Study on GDC-KZnAl composite electrolytes for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Development of low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LTSOFC) is now becoming a mainstream research direction worldwide. The advancement in the effective electrolyte materials has been one of the major challenges for LTSOFC development. To further improve the performance of electrolyte, composite approaches are considered as common strategies. The enhancement on ionic conductivity or sintering behavior ceria-based electrolyte can either be done by adding a carbonate phase to facilitate the utilization of the ionic-conducting interfaces, or by addition of alumina as insulator to reduce the electronic conduction of ceria. Thus the present report aims to design a composite electrolyte materials by combining the above two composite approaches, in order to enhance the ionic conductivity and to improve the long-term stability simultaneously. Here we report the preparation and investigation of GDC-KAlZn materials with composition of Gd doped ceria, K₂CO₃, ZnO and Al₂O₃. The structure and morphology of the samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, etc. The ionic conductivity of GDC-KAlZn sample was determined by impedance spectroscopy. The composite samples with various weight ratio of GDC and KAlZn were used as electrolyte material to fabricate and evaluate fuel cells as well as investigate the composition dependent properties. The good ionic conductivity and notable fuel cell performance of 480 mW cm⁻² at 550 °C has demonstrated that GDC-KAlZn composite electrolyte can be regarded as a potential electrolyte material for LTSOFCs.