Effect of Metal Chloride Pre-Cursor on the Structure of Yb-Doped Ba(Ce, Zr)O3 Ceramics Electrolyte: A Comparative Study with Different Metal Salts

This paper discusses the effect of a metal chloride pre-cursor on the phase formation of Yb-doped Ba(Ce, Zr)O3 solid electrolyte derived from a sol-gel method via acetate and chloride salts. The use of metal chloride as a pre-cursor showed the increased in thermal decomposition temperature (Ttd≈1360°C) compared to the metal nitrate pre-cursor (Ttd≈1280°C) and (b) leading to the formation of impurity phases. At calcination temperature of 1500°C, the sample prepared from metal chloride did not form a single-phase of Ba(Ce, Zr)O3. Impurity phases of BaCl2, BaCO3 and (Ce, Zr)O2 were detected in the sample as proven by XRD result. A high purity compound at relatively lower temperature (T=1400°C) was only obtained for the sample that prepared from metal nitrate compared to acetate and chloride (T 1500°C) and carbonate and oxide (T=1500°C) pre-cursors.