Synthesizing Functional Ceramic Powders for Solid Oxide Cells in Minutes through Thermal Shock

Ceramic fuel/electrolysis cells are key energy/material conversion devices. Here, we report that, by thermal shock, mixed ionic and electronic conducting electrode powders with a perovskite structure can be successfully synthesized within 2 min, while this procedure requires a two-step calcination and almost 40 h when a conventional furnace is used. This benefits from the high temperature supplied to the system, greatly enhancing the reaction kinetics among the raw materials. Moreover, typical electrolyte powders with a fluorite structure, such as (Y2O3)(0.08)(ZrO2)(0.92) (YSZ) and Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.95 (SDC), are also synthesized in several minutes through a thermal shock, which significantly reduces the fabrication time of a solid oxide cell. Also, one can easily prepare multiple samples at one time via tailoring the carbon support size. The availability of fast synthesis of the thermal-shock technique enables the development of new functional ceramic powders for solid-oxide cells in a high-throughput and economical manner.