Sol-gel synthesis and properties of Ce_(1-x)Pr_xO_(2-x/2) solid solutions

A series of solid electrolytes Ce1-xPrxO2-x/2(x=0～0.3) were prepared by solgel method. The structure and electrical properties of the solid solution were investigated. The uniform small particle size of the solgel prepared materials allows sintering of the samples into highly dense ceramic pellets at 1300℃.XPS showed that the oxygen vacancy concentration increased obviously by doping alkaline earth oxide, thus, resulting in the increase of the oxygen ionic transport number and conductivity. Therefore, the performance of ceriabased solid electrolyte was improved. In addition, from impedance spectrum we concluded that in low temperature range the electrical conductivity was controlled by grainboundary processes in ceramic samples, while in high temperature range it was controlled by bulk process.