Electrical properties of nanocube CeO₂ in advanced solid oxide fuel cells

Search for electrolyte materials with a high ionic conductivity at low temperatures has always been a key challenge for the development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In present work, we found un-doped CeO₂ nanocubes used as an electrolyte for advanced fuel cell showed remarkable performances. The CeO₂ nanocubes were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal approach. The synthesized CeO₂ nanocubes were used as an electrolyte sandwiched between two layers of semiconducting Ni_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05LiO_2-δ to fabricate the fuel cell. Such device has achieved an excellent maximum power density of 406 mW cm⁻² at 600 °C. These results demonstrate CeO₂/CeO_2-δ heterogeneous interfaces could provide a high ionic conductive path conductor for the electrolyte in SOFCs, which widen the selecting range of the electrolyte candidates for advanced SOFCs.