Processing of high-performance Co doped Y2O3 as a single-phase electrolyte for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC)

The high-performance single-phase semiconductor materials with higher ionic conductivity have drawn substantial attention in fuel cell applications. Semiconductor materials play a key role to enhance ionic conductivity subsequently promoting low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC) research. Herein, we proposed a semiconductor Co doped Y 2 O 3 (YCO) samples with different molar ratios, which may easily access the high ionic conductivity and electrochemical performances at low operating temperatures. The resulting fabricated fuel cell 10% Co doped Y 2 O 3 (YCO-10) device exhibits high ionic conductivity of ∼0.16 S cm −1 and a feasible peak power density of 856 mW cm −2 along with 1.09 OCV at 530 °C under H 2 /air conditions. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) reveals that YCO-10 electrolyte based SOFC device delivers the least ohmic resistance of 0.11–0.16 Ω cm 2 at 530-450 °C. Electrode polarization resistance of the constructed fuel cell device noticed from 0.59 Ω cm 2 to 0.28 Ω cm 2 in H 2 /air environment at different elevated temperatures (450 °C to 530 °C). This work suggests that YCO-10 can be a promising alternative electrolyte, owing to its high fuel cell performance and enhanced ionic conductivity for LT-SOFC.