The Impact of Zr Substitution on the Crystal Structure of Yb Doped BaCeO3 Solid Solution Prepared by a Sol-Gel Method

A modified sol-gel method using metal nitrate salts was adopted to synthesis proton conductor of Ba(Ce1-xZrx)0.95Yb0.05O2.975 where x=0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 ceramic powders. The aim of this work is to study the crystal structure of Yb-doped barium cerate solid solution at different Zr concentrations. The powder was calcined at 1100°C for 12 hours and pressed at 5 tons to become a pellet by a dry pressing technique. The pellet was sintered at 1400°C in air for 6 hours and ground to powder form prior to the X-ray diffraction measurement. The raw diffraction data of the sample at room temperature was analyzed using Rietveld refinement method in X’pert Highscore software. Cubic crystal structure was observed by software with goodness of fit in average 2.82. Phase formation, structure analysis and the empirical rule which holds the linear relation between lattice parameters at different Zr concentrations using Vegard’s Law were also presented and discussed.