Synthesis and characterization of nickel oxide/gadolinium doped ceria nano powder

In this paper two different kinds of nickel oxide/gadolinium doped ceria (NiO-GDC) (I and II) nanocomposites were prepared by sol–gel method. Ni(II)-pyridine containing supramolecule and Ni(NO3)2.6H2O compounds have been used as new precursors. Characterization of the products carried out by elemental analysis, FTIR, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), zeta potentials and BET measurements. The XRD results showed that the crystal lattice of the compounds (I) was obtained cubic fluorite structure. To compare zeta potential between compounds (I) and (II), it seems that compound (II) carried a more positive charge, therefore, stuck afford extending three phase boundaries (TPB) in SOFC electrode. Also, SEM images of compound (I) indicated that the large pores can causes enabled electrons and O2- ions to rapidly flow and allowed the fuel to be easily accessible and increase performance SOFCs.