A Combinatorial Study Of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia As An Electrolyte Candidate For Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

Combinatorial research can have two main uses. The first is to perform cursory measurements of many materials to find a composition whose properties are ideal for some known application. The second function of combinatorial research is to test many materials for ideal values of a particular property in order to learn more about that property and variables that can alter it. This study focused on adequately measuring, modeling and calculating the parameters that affect the ionic conductivity of a particular binary spread of yttria stabilized zirconia. At three separate temperatures, the resulting ionic conductivity vs. composition graphs showed trends similar to those found in the literature for bulk materials, which validate the methods that were developed and optimized in this thesis. Further studies of activation energy and phase structure were performed and produced results that also match data found in the literature. Future work can expand on the methods detailed here and examine other combinations of materials such as zirconia co-doped with yttria and scandia or gadolinium-doped ceria.