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Microstructural and electrical properties of Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 thin-film electrolyte in solid-oxide fuel cells

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Abstract

Microstructural and electrical properties of Gd-doped CeO2 (GDC; Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95) thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition as an electrolyte in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) were investigated. The GDC thin films were prepared on various substrates including single-crystal yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and magnesium oxide (MgO) substrates. The GDC thin-film electrolytes with different grain sizes and grain morphologies were prepared by varying the deposition parameters, such as substrate temperature, oxygen partial pressure, target repetition rate, and laser ablation energy. The microstructural properties of these films were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Alternating-current (AC) and direct-current (DC) electrical measurements through in-plane method show that the electrical property of the GDC thin film strongly depends on grain size, e.g., the total conductivity of the films deposited at 700 °C (7.3 × 10−3 S/cm) is about 20 times higher than the ones deposited at room temperature (3.6 × 10−4 S/cm) at the measurement temperature of 600 °C.

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Acknowledgments

Part of the work was funded by National Science Foundation (NSF 0709831 and NSF 1007969), United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Contract Nos.: FA9550-07-1-0108 and FA9550-09-1-0114), and DOE Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT). The work at the University of Texas at Austin was funded by Welch Foundation (Grant No.: F-1254).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843-3128, USA

    Sungmee Cho, Jongsik Yoon & Xinghang Zhang

  2. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA

    Jung-Hyun Kim & Arumugam Manthiram

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843-3123, USA

    Haiyan Wang

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  1. Sungmee Cho
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Cho, S., Yoon, J., Kim, JH. et al. Microstructural and electrical properties of Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 thin-film electrolyte in solid-oxide fuel cells. Journal of Materials Research 26, 854–859 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2010.72

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