Quantification of microstructural features in gadolinia-doped ceria containing co-additives by digital image analysis

A digital image processing and analysis method has been developed to evaluate the microstructural features of chemically synthesized gadolinia-doped ceria powders containing small amounts of co-dopants. The effects of particles/clusters size, porosity and grain size distribution were examined in detail and compared to those parameters of the standard composition without co-dopants. In addition, the effect of the co-dopants in the grain growth was clarified. Sr2+ and Bi3+ act as sintering aid for densification of the standard composition. The lowest mean grain size along with higher fraction of porosity was obtained for Na+ addition.