Effect of grain size on the electrical performance of BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ solid electrolytes with addition of NiO

In order to clarify the effect of grain size on the electrical performance of BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ (BZCYYb) solid electrolytes with addition of NiO, microcrystalline (~1.5 µm) and ultrafine-grained (~280 nm) BZCYYb electrolytes (with 1 wt% NiO) were fabricated by the conventional and two-step sintering method, respectively. The results show that compared with microcrystalline electrolytes, the ultrafine-grained electrolytes have similar grain-interior conductivities, but much lower grain-boundary conductivities, illustrating that the grain boundary is not conducive for ionic transport. As a result, the electrical conductivity of microcrystalline electrolytes (1.9 × 10−2 S cm−1 at 600 °C in wet air) is higher than that of ultrafine-grained electrolytes (1.1 × 10−2 S cm−1 at 600 °C in wet air). In addition, the OCV (open-circuit voltage) values of electrolyte-supported single cells show that the undesired electronic conduction exists in the electrolytes due to the BaY2NiO5 impurity formed by the reaction of NiO and BZCYYb. The ultrafine-grained electrolytes show lower OCV values than that of microcrystalline ones, due to the prolonged electronic transport paths. Therefore, large-grained or grain boundary-free microstructure are necessary for improving the electrical performance of BZCYYb electrolytes.