High Performance Dense Proton Ceramic Electrolyte Material Obtained by Cold Sintering Process

The cold sintering process (CSP) was applied for the first time to the high temperature proton conductor BaCe0.8Zr0.1Y0.1O3-δ. The CSP parameters were optimized in order to obtain the best relative density: the amount of water 0-20 wt.%, the pressing temperature 120-180°C and the pressure ranges between 125 to 500 MPa (for 30 minutes). We demonstrate the ability of CSP to achieve a relative density of 83% at only 180°C and 375 MPa using 5 wt.% water. It has been found that a post CSP annealing at 100°C improves the material relative density which reaches 93%. Ceramic materials were investigated for their microstructure-electrochemical properties relations. The ionic conductivity was measured between 150 and 800°C on dense and well defined microstructure materials. When the annealing temperature increases from 1000, 1100, 1200°C a large increase of the conductivity is observed reaching 2.3x10-2 Scm-1 at 700°C for pellet sintered 10 h at 1200°C.