Processing of high-performance Co doped Y2O3 as a single-phase electrolyte for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC)

The high-performance single-phase semiconductor materials with higher ionic conductivity have drawn substantial attention in fuel cell applications. Semiconductor materials play a key role to enhance ionic conductivity subsequently promoting low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC) research. Herein, we proposed a semiconductor Co doped Y2O3 (YCO) samples with different molar ratios, which may easily access the high ionic conductivity and electrochemical performances at low operating temperatures. The resulting fabricated fuel cell 10% Co doped Y2O3 (YCO-10) device exhibits high ionic conductivity of ∼0.16 S cm−1 and a feasible peak power density of 856 mW cm−2 along with 1.09 OCV at 530 °C under H2/air conditions. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) reveals that YCO-10 electrolyte based SOFC device delivers the least ohmic resistance of 0.11–0.16 Ω cm2 at 530-450 °C. Electrode polarization resistance of the constructed fuel cell device noticed from 0.59 Ω cm2 to 0.28 Ω cm2 in H2/air environment at different elevated temperatures (450 °C to 530 °C). This work suggests that YCO-10 can be a promising alternative electrolyte, owing to its high fuel cell performance and enhanced ionic conductivity for LT-SOFC.