Electrical properties of nanocube CeO2 in advanced solid oxide fuel cells

Search for electrolyte materials with a high ionic conductivity at low temperatures has always been a key challenge for the development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In present work, we found un-doped CeO2 nanocubes used as an electrolyte for advanced fuel cell showed remarkable performances. The CeO2 nanocubes were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal approach. The synthesized CeO2 nanocubes were used as an electrolyte sandwiched between two layers of semiconducting Ni(0.8)Co(0.8)isAl(0.05)LiO(2-delta) to fabricate the fuel cell. Such device has achieved an excellent maximum power density of 406 mW cm(-2) at 600 degrees C. These results demonstrate CeO2/CeO2-delta heterogeneous interfaces could provide a high ionic conductive path conductor for the electrolyte in SOFCs, which widen the selecting range of the electrolyte candidates for advanced SOFCs. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.