On the green density, sintering behavior and electrical property of tape cast Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 electrolyte films

Gadolinia doped ceria (Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95, GDC) electrolyte films were tape cast from oxalate coprecipitated GDC powders, gelcast GDC powders and their mixtures, respectively, to evaluate the effects of the original particle size and distribution on the properties of the green and sintered GDC cast tapes. The apparent density of different original powders, as well as the green density, sintered behavior, and electrical conductivity of tapes cast from the various starting powders were investigated. Mixing the coprecipitated and the gelcast GDC powders not only results in a higher packing efficiency of particles in the loose powders, but also results in higher green and sintered densities of cast tapes. Furthermore, tapes cast from the 50/50 powder mixtures can be sintered to 96.2% of theoretical density at relatively low sintering temperature of 1400°C, whereas those from the oxalate coprecipitated and from the gelcast powders were only 89.7 and 94.1% dense, respectively. The ac impedance measurement shows that GDC films cast from the 50/50 powder mixture exhibit good electrical conductivity (4.2 and 6.0 S m−1 at 700 and 800°C in air, respectively). The test results have revealed that high-density GDC films can be fabricated by tape casting technique at relatively low sintering temperature by optimizing the particle size distribution of the starting powders.