Effect of atomization methods on the size and morphology of Gd0.1Ce0.9O2−δ powder synthesized by aerosol flame synthesis

Nano-sized gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) powders were successfully synthesized by aerosol flame deposition (AFD) with two different atomization methods; ultrasonic and electrostatic atomization. The effect of the atomization method on the size and morphology of GDC particles were investigated. It was observed that the diameter range of the GDC small primary particles synthesized by the ultrasonic atomization method was 10–50 nm while with the electrostatic method was 5–25 nm. In addition, the size of primary large particle found to be decreased from 200 nm to 50 nm with increasing electric field up to 15 kV. The GDC powder synthesized by the electrostatic atomization exhibited reduced crystallite size, particle size, and similar electrical conductivity compared to GDC powder synthesized by ultrasonic atomization. This work demonstrated the benefits of the electrostatic atomization for producing smaller-sized GDC nanopowders for the application in intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells.