Synthesis and characterization of ZnO/samarium-doped ceria nanocomposites for solid oxide fuel cell applications

In this work, we prepare samarium-doped ceria (SDC) nanocomposite electrolytes by the co-precipitation method with different ZnO:SDC weight ratios for solid oxide fuel cell application. The physicochemical characterization of the nanocomposite electrolytes is carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is performed to measure the electrical properties of the electrolytes, and the results show that the optimum composition of ZnO (x = 0.2) nanocomposite demonstrates a better ionic conductivity ~ 0.1–0.7 S/cm at 350–700 °C. The fuel cell performance of the ZnO/SDC nanocomposite electrolytes is measured with hydrogen as the fuel. The as-synthesized nanocomposite material with ZnO (x = 0.2) also exhibits a power density of 804 mW/cm2 along with a maximum open-circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.10 V at 700 °C.