Effect of Cold Sintering Process (CSP) on the Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Properties of Gd-doped Ceria (GDC)

TL;DR

This study explores how cold sintering process affects the electro-chemo-mechanical properties of Gd-doped ceria, revealing comparable electrochemical performance and unique mechanical characteristics compared to conventional sintering.

Contribution

It demonstrates that CSP can produce dense GDC ceramics with ultrafine grains and desirable properties, offering a potential alternative to traditional high-temperature sintering.

Findings

CSP ceramics achieve ~92% density with ~100 nm grains.

Electrochemical properties are comparable to conventional sintering.

CSP samples show high creep constant and low elastic modulus.

Abstract

In this report, the effect of the cold sintering process (CSP) on the electro-chemo-mechanical properties of 10 mol% Gd-doped ceria (GDC) is investigated. High purity nanoscale GDC powder is sintered via a cold sintering process (CSP) in pure water followed by post-annealing at 1000 {\deg}C. The resultant CSP ceramics exhibits high relative density (~92%) with an ultrafine grain size of ~100 nm. This sample illustrates comparable electrochemical properties at intermediate/high temperatures and electromechanical properties at room temperature to the sample prepared via conventional firing, i.e. sintering in the air at 1450 {\deg}C. Moreover, a large creep constant as well as a low elastic modulus and hardness are also observed in the CSP sample.