Effects of Na2CO3/ZnO co-addition on the sinterability and electrical conductivity of BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Sc0.1O3-δ ceramic

In order to investigate the effects of Na 2 CO 3 /ZnO co-addition on the sinterability and electrical conductivity of BaZr 0.1 Ce 0.7 Y 0.1 Sc 0.1 O 3-δ (BZCYSc) ceramic, Na 2 CO 3 and ZnO were added and BZCYSc/ZnO/Na 2 CO 3 ceramic was prepared by mechanical ball milling and high-temperature sintering in air. The crystalline structure, micro-morphology, chemical composition, density, and electrical conductivity of the sintered ceramics were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, Archimedes method, and electrochemical impedance spectrum, respectively. The grains size of BZCYSc-2%ZnO-5%Na 2 CO 3 is about 2.5~5 μm. Na 2 CO 3 /ZnO co-addition is beneficial to improve the sinterability and electrical conductivity of BZCYSc. The sintering temperature of BZCYSc can be lowered from 1550 to 1350 °C when 2 mol%ZnO is added. At 550 °C, the electrical conductivities of BZCYSc-2%ZnO-10%Na 2 CO 3 and BZCYSc are 1.90 × 10 −3  S/cm and 1.81 × 10 −3  S/cm. The activation energies of BZCYSc and BZCYSc-2%ZnO-10%Na 2 CO 3 are 0.7529 eV and 0.5641 eV, respectively.