Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Alexander Michaelis
Fraunhofer Institute of Ceramic Technologies and Systems, IKTS, Dresden, Germany
Keynote: Smart Advanced Ceramic Materials for energy and environmental technology
Time : 10:40-11:15
Biography:
Alexander Michaelis is the Director of Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, Germany. He studied physics and received his Doctorate in the field of electrochemistry. In 1996 he accepted a position at Siemens AG working in the field of microelectronics amongst others at the DRAM Development Alliance in East Fishkill, New York. In 2000, he began to work for Bayer AG in Leverkusen changing subsequently to H.C. Starck GmbH, a Bayer subsidiary, where he was head of the Electroceramics and the New Business Development department. Furthermore, he was the managing director of InDEC B.V. working in the field of solid oxide fuel cells and finished his state doctorate at University of Düsseldorf. Since 2004, he has been director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and has been holding the chair of Inorganic Nonmetallic Materials at TU Dresden. He has more than 40 patent families in materials science, microelectronics, and electronics and provided more than 100 publications. In 2012 he was awarded the ACerS Bridge Building Award for his contribution in the field of energy and environmental technology.
Abstract:
Advanced ceramic materials offer enormous potential for innovations in the fields of efficient energy conversion and storage, propulsion systems, smart structures, sensor technology as well as environmental technology. The joint application of structural and functional ceramic technology allows for unique combination of electronic, ionic (electrochemical) and mechanical properties enabling the development of new, highly integrated systems in the above mentioned fields. However, due to the specific brittle failure mechanism of ceramic materials (Griffith behavior) the production of ceramic components requires new approaches for non destructive in-line testing. This is illustrated with specific examples for smart systems development for Fuel Cell, batteries and ceramic membranes. As a first example, high temperature fuel cell systems development for both mobile and stationary applications are presented. In the power range from 1 W to several 10 kW we use SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) technology, for the high power range up to several MW we prefer MCFC (molten carbonate fuel cell) technology. Both fuel cell types use conventional hydrocarbon fuels and are currently being commercialized. These fuel cells allow for ultra high efficient power generation. In the combined heat and power (CHP) mode, efficiencies above 95% can be reached. Since the load following capability of fuel cells is limited, we also develop new ceramic based storage systems. These storage systems also can be used along with renewable power generation technologies (PV, wind) to solve the problem of base load feed in. Examples for development of Li-Ion batteries as well as high temperature NaNiCl batteries are presented. As an example for the potential of ceramic materials in the field of environmental technology, ceramic membranes are discussed. Such membranes can be used for micro-, ultra- or nano- filtration of liquids and gases. For this, a control and reduction of pore sizes below the 1 nm range is required.
- Track: 5 Designing and Engineering of Ceramic Composites; Track: 6 Ceramics and Systems for Energy and Environment; Track: 7 Surface Engineering and Ceramic Coating; Track: 8 Innovative Processing and Synthesis
Biography:
Akio Nakamura is a PhD from University of Tokyo (1975). He is a Senior Researcher at ASRC/ JAEA, studying solid state electrochemistry of fluorite oxides. He is the author of ~200 peer-reviewed papers, Guest Editor/Organizing Committee Member of many International Conferences. He is the book editor for books like “New research trends of fluorite-based oxide materials; from basic chemistry and materials science to engineering applications” from Nova Science Publishers (NY) published in 2015, and a recipient of Jubilee Gold Medal Award for Excellent Work in Materials Chemistry at the ICFM-2015 convened by Indian Association of Solid State Chemists and Allied Scientists at Nagpur, India, 2015.
Abstract:
This presentation describes the recently proposed a new comprehensive defect-crystal-chemistry approach as a possible unified generalized Vegard-Law (VL) description of non-Vegardianity and non-random defect structure of entitled so-called defect-fluorite oxides as inherently coupled two sides of distortion-dilation in macroscopic lattice parameter and microscopic ionic radius level, respectively. It provides a new direct link to their controversial defect structure and its dependent key basic as well as engineering properties such as oxide-ion conductivity (σ(ion)) and defect thermodynamic behavior, etc. This presentation is a condensed review of the technology; and scientifically emphasized description of the value of Mössbauer, NMR and EXAFS, etc., microscopic and spectroscopic local structure data in combination with macroscopic XRD lattice parameter/crystal structure data in both formulating and substantiating the model, and in practical engineering aspect, in view of their well-known application as solid electrolytes in SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) technology. I appeal its near quantitative ability to predict and describe their key characteristic feature of ionic conductivity maximum (σ(ion)(max)) behavior in low dopant (Ln3+) content range.
Alexander Michaelis
Fraunhofer Institute of Ceramic Technologies and Systems, Germany
Title: Advanced ceramics for energy systems
Biography:
Alexander Michaelis is the Director of Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, Germany. He studied physics and received his Doctorate in the field of electrochemistry. In 1996 he accepted a position at Siemens AG working in the field of microelectronics amongst others at the DRAM Development Alliance in East Fishkill, New York. In 2000, he began to work for Bayer AG in Leverkusen changing subsequently to H.C. Starck GmbH, a Bayer subsidiary, where he was head of the Electroceramics and the New Business Development department. Furthermore, he was the managing director of InDEC B.V. working in the field of solid oxide fuel cells and finished his state doctorate at University of Düsseldorf. Since 2004, he has been director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and has been holding the chair of Inorganic Nonmetallic Materials at TU Dresden. He has more than 40 patent families in materials science, microelectronics, and electronics and provided more than 100 publications. In 2012 he was awarded the ACerS Bridge Building Award for his contribution in the field of energy and environmental technology.
Abstract:
Advanced ceramic materials offer enormous potential for innovations in the fields of efficient energy conversion and storage as well as environmental technology. The joint application of structural and functional ceramic technology allows for unique combination of electronic, ionic (electrochemical) and mechanical properties enabling the development of new, highly integrated systems. We present specific examples for Fuel Cell, Li-Ion and high temperature Na-metal batteries as well as ceramic membrane systems development. As a first example, high temperature fuel cell systems developments for both mobile and stationary applications are presented. In the power range from 1 W to several 10 kW we use SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) technology, for the high power range up to several MW we prefer MCFC (molten carbonate fuel cell) technology. Both fuel cell types use conventional hydrocarbon fuels and are currently being commercialized. Using related ceramic technology platforms we also develop energy storage systems in different power ranges. Examples for fabrication of Li-Ion batteries as well as high temperature NaNiCl batteries are presented. The production of both, power generation and storage systems require new approaches for non-destructive in line testing methods which are discussed as well. For illustration of the potential of advanced ceramic materials in environmental technology, ceramic membrane systems are discussed. Ceramic membranes can be used for micro-, ultra- or nano- filtration of liquids. Further innovations require an improved control and reduction of pore size. This allows for new applications in gas separation and pervaporation systems. For this, pores sizes below 1 nm have to be generated using specific structural features of selected materials.
Biography:
Hiroyuki Serizawa obtained his PhD from Osaka University at the age of 31. He is a Research Scientist at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. He was a guest researcher at the Joint Research Centre’s Institute for Transuranium Elements, Germany (ITU) from 2000 for one year as a student sent abroad by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals. His work on image crystals will be published by Nova Science Publishers in the near future.
Abstract:
Author’s investigation on cavities in ceramics was triggered by the unexpected discovery of a polyhedral cavity in a UO2 matrix. The SEM image that attracted author’s attention was a cavity observed in the fracture surface of a single crystal ofUO2 that washeat-treated in helium at 90 MPa, followed by annealing at 1573 K for 1 h. It was clear that the cavity was a negative crystal that was formed by the precipitation of helium during heat treatment after Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) injection. In a series of experiments, it was noticed that the shape of the negative crystal changes depending on the heat-treatment history. In general, it is difficult to control arbitrarily the shapes of these polyhedral negative crystals embedded in a solid medium; however, the shape can easily be controlled using the helium injection method. Author’s research team named the shape controlled negative crystal as image crystal. At this time, it was discovered that three types of image crystals formed in UO2. Further research was conducted on the formation of image crystals in CeO2. However, because of manufacturing difficulties, single-crystal CeO2 is not available. Consequently, it wsa used a CeO2 thin film formed by epitaxial growth. Helium was injected as 130-keV He4+ ions from a 400-keV ion implanter. The helium-ion-doped film was heat treated at 1673 K for 2h. The sample was cut into rectangular slices fortransmission electron microscopy.Weconfirmed that nanosized image crystalshad been formed in the matrix.
Biography:
Raed Abu-Reziq completed his Doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in catalysis and sol-gel chemistry. After receiving his PhD degree in 2004, he moved to Ottawa University, Canada, to do his Postdoctoral research in the field of nanocatalysis. In 2006 he joined the company Sol-Gel Technologies as Senior Researcher and spent two years in developing micro and nano-encapsulation systems based on sol-gel process as drug delivery systems. In 2008, he was appointed as Senior Lecturer at Institute of Chemistry and Casali Center for Applied Chemistry. His research focuses on nanocatalysis, green chemistry and developing micro and nanoencapsulation methods.
Abstract:
Microcapsules have taken an important role in controlled release of active agents, such as drugs and agrochemicals, and enable a microenvironment for catalytic reaction. One known encapsulation process is based on silica microcapsules prepared by the sol-gel method. Sol-gel microcapsules are known to be inert, biocompatible and flexible; therefore they are commonly used in pharmaceutics and cosmetics. Many of these ingredients are water- sensitive, thus a new method for preparing a silica microcapsules is required. In our research, we focus on preparing a silica microcapsules by non-aqueous and non-hydrolytic sol-gel chemistry. To achieve that, non-aqueous emulsions are prepared using polar and non-polar organic solvent and a silane precursors that can polymerize and produce silica at the interface of the emulsion, without a hydrolysis step. The polar solvent that was chosen is ionic liquids and the silica was formed by the reaction of tetrachlorosilane with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) or benzyl alcohol. Ionic liquids are thermally and chemically stable, not volatility and they are liquids over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. These properties make them good solvent for a broad spectrum of materials and catalytic reactions. The preparation of the silica microcapsules by non-aqueous sol-gel method, their characterization and applications will be presented.
Muzafar A Kanjwal
Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Title: Electrospun NiO, ZnO and composite NiO-ZnO nanofibers: Photocatalytic degradation of dairy effluent
Biography:
Muzafar A Kanjwal has completed his PhD from Chonbuk National University, South Korea. Currently, he is working as a Researcher at National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. He has published more than 40 papers in reputed journals. His research focuses on photocatalysis, and developing nano/micro structures by electrospinning method.
Abstract:
Among the food wastes, the Dairy Effluent (DE) is considered to be the most polluting one because of the large volume of waste water generated and its high organic load. Photocatalytic degradation of DE and organic dye methylene blue (MB) was studied using zinc oxide nanofibers (ZnO NFs), nickel oxide nanofibers (NiO NFs) and composite zinc oxide-nickel oxide nanofibers (ZnO-NiO NFs). These nano-membranes were characterized with SEM, TEM, XRD and UV studies. The pristine nanofiber membranes were smooth and continuous, with an average diameter of about 400 nm, and held their nanofibrous morphology even after calcination at 600 ˚C for more than 3 hours of photocatalytic degradation of DE and MB dye. The ZnO NFs and NiO NFs were effective materials for degradation of DE and MB dye. NiO NFs and ZnO NFs showed a maximum degradation of 70% and 75% in DE and 50% and 60% in MB dye, respectively, after 3 hours. The significant enhancement of degradation in the composite ZnO-NiO NFs is attributed to the photoactivity of material under visible light irradiation. The composite ZnO-NiO NFs eliminated 40% of DE and 65% of MB dye, respectively, after 1 hour and maximum degradation of 80% DE after 3 hours and 100% MB dye after 90, min respectively. Overall, this study shows that the nanofibers’ morphology strongly enhances the surface activity of the ZnO-NiO photocatalyst when utilized to degrade DE and MB dye at room temperature.
Biography:
Ram Gupta joined Pittsburg State University as an Assistant Professor in 2013. Before joining to Pittsburg State University, he worked as an Assistant Research Professor at Missouri State University, Springfield, MO then as a Senior Research Scientist at North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC. His research focuses on green energy production and storage using nanomaterials, optoelectronics and photovoltaics devices, organic-inorganic hetero-junctions for sensors, nanomagnetism, conducting polymers and composites. He has published over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented/attended more than 100 conferences. He is an Editorial Board Member and reviewer for various leading science journals.
Abstract:
Supercapacitors are considered one of the most prominent and efficient energy storage devices, next to lithium ion batteries due to their high power densities, fast charge-discharge capabilities and long cyclibility. Supercapacitors possess high power density in compare to batteries and are able to solve the increasing demand for energy in small consumer products, electrical vehicles and devices where quick power delivery is highly desired. We have used several facile methods to synthesized nanostructured ceramics such as NiCo2O4, Fe3O3 and CoMoO4. The electrochemical properties of these metal oxides were studied in details. It was observed that the charge-storage capacity depends on their morphology and electrolytes used. We have fabricated flexible supercapacitor device by using these metal oxides. The device showed no degradation in the capacitive properties on bending confirming their flexible nature. We have also studied the effect of temperature on the charge storage capacity of the devices for high temperature applications. The specific capacitance of the device significantly increased when the operational temperature of the device was elevatedfrom10 to 70oC. Hence, this work provides facile methods to synthesize morphologies controlled metal oxides for applications in next generation flexible energy storage devices which could drive more efficiently at higher temperature.
Ajay Kumar Mishra
University of South Africa, South Africa
Title: Silicon Carbide: A versatile nanomaterial
Biography:
Ajay Kumar Mishra is currently working as Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a group leader of the research area for the composites/nanocomposites, water research and bio-inorganic chemistry. He has hosted several visiting researchers/scientists/postdocs in his group. Prof. Mishra has also developed a number of collaborations worldwide. Prof. Mishra has pursued PhD in Chemistry from Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi, India. In 2006, he moved to the University of Free State, South Africa for Postdoctoral studies in the area of composites/nanocomposites. His research contribution includes many publications in international journals. He has delivered a number of including Plenary/Keynote/Invited Lectures. For his outstanding research profile, he was awarded a number of awards. Prof. Mishra also served as Associate Editor as well as member of the editorial board of many international journals. He has edited several books by the renowned publishers. He has been reviewing a number of international journals and member of a number of scientific societies.
Abstract:
Silicon carbide (SiC) has been considered for the thrust area of research since long time due to its unique thermal and mechanical properties. SiC is well known for its excellent material properties, high durability, high wear resistance, light weight and extreme hardness. We have synthesized SiC from the hybrid of bio-polymer using sol-gel process via carbothermal reduction. This talk will focus on the synthesis, properties and applications of silicon carbide nano ceramic materials using different source of polymer/organic waste.
Sheikh A Akbar
The Ohio State University (OSU), USA
Title: Nano-structured oxide platforms for chemical sensing and beyond: A materials design
Biography:
Sheikh A. Akbar is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Founder of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Industrial Sensors and Measurements (CISM) at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, USA. His recent work deals with synthesis-microstructure-property relations of ceramic bulk, thin-film and nano-structures. Dr. Akbar was the Chair of the 12th International Conference on Chemical Sensors (IMCS-12) held in 2008. This meeting was attended by 330 participants from more than 30 countries. His sensors received three (3) R&D 100 Awards as part of the 100 best inventions of 2007 and 2005 selected by R&D Magazine and 2005 NASA TGIR (turning goal into reality) award. Dr. Akbar is the recipient of the 2012 Electrochemical Society Sensor Division Outstanding Achievement Award, the 2002 Tan Chin Tuan Fellow of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the 2001 Fulrath Award and the 2002 W.E. Cramer Award of the American Ceramic Society. He was elected a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 2001. He also received the 1993 B.F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Award for the development of a rugged and durable CO/H2 sensor; one of three national awards. Dr. Akbar served on the International Advisory Committee of CIMTEC conferences, Steering Committee of the International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEE), Technical Steering Committee of the US-DOE Sensor and Controls Program, and the Steering Committee of the US-Japan Conference on Sensor Systems for the 21st Century. He has co-organized sensor symposia for the American Ceramic Society, the Electrochemical Society, ICMAT (Singapore) and ICC3 (Japan). Dr. Akbar has co-edited 2 books on sensors. In 2003, he served as the Guest Editor for two special sections of the Journal of Materials Science, “Chemical Sensors for Pollution Monitoring and Control†and “Chemical and Bioceramics.†Recently, he was the Principal Editor of special issues entitled, “Nano-structured Ceramic Oxides: Challenges and Opportunities†and “Energy and Environment: Role of Advanced Materials†published by the American Scientific Publisher in 2011 and 2014, respectively. He is also the Guest Editor of a special issue entitled, “Sensing at the Nano-scale: Chemical and Biosensing†published in 2012 in Sensors. Dr. Akbar is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nanoengineering and Nanomanufacturing, Materials Focus, Ceramics International, Journal of Nanomaterials and Sensor Letters. He has published more than 200 technical papers and holds 8 patents.
Abstract:
Recent work in the author’s laboratory has led to the development of simple processes for the fabrication of ordered and self-assembled nanostructures by exploiting intrinsic material properties that are inexpensive, highly scalable and do not require use of lithography. These processes can be classified as “oxide nanostructures by materials designâ€. One process creates nanofiber arrays of single crystal TiO2 by gas phase reaction in a H2/N2 environment. As oxygen from TiO2 is taken out as H2O (g), Ti diffuses from the surface to the bulk resulting in fibers oriented along the <001> direction. Work on single crystal TiO2 shows that on Au-catalyzed (001) surface, oriented nano-fibers can be grown with <001> and <110> alignments using H2/N2 heat treatment. The same gas heat treatment was also used to grow nanofibers on polycrystalline SnO2 in regions of the sample coated with gold, showing directional growth on grains with crystal facets. We have also developed a process to create nanofibers of TiO2 on Ti metal and Ti alloys via oxidation under a limited supply of oxygen (~10s of ppm). Lately, we have succeeded in converting the 1-D TiO2 nano-fiber grown by thermal oxidation to nano-dendritic titanates by a hydrothermal treatment. The conversion of TiO2 to barium (and other) titanates is a path to synthesizing materials in a different class of functionality because of their piezoelectric and ferroelectric responses. We developed yet another interesting nano-structure (nanoislands and nanobars) during thermal annealing of an oxide (GDC) on top of another oxide (YSZ) substrate that self-assembles along the softest elastic direction of the substrate. What is common about these structures is that they are fabricated without the use of lithographic techniques and involves simple processes such as gas-phase reactions and stress-driven process. These nano-structures can be used as platforms for chemical sensing, photo catalysis, electro emission and biomedical applications. Pre-liminary results of some of these applications are presented.
Allu Amarnath Reddy
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Title: Development of bi-layered glass-ceramic sealant for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)
Biography:
Allu Amarnath Reddy has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from University of Aveiro, Portugal. Currently he is working as a Postdoctoral student at University of Bordeaux, France. He has published 25 papers in reputed journals. His research focuses on the development of glass and glass-ceramic based photonic and sealant materials.
Abstract:
Glass and glass-ceramic (GC), in particular alkaline-earth alumino silicate based glasses and GCs, are becoming the most common sealing materials for gas-tight sealing applications in SOFCs. Besides the development of new glass-based materials, new additional concepts are required to overcome the challenges being faced by the currently existing sealant technology.In this pursuit, various glasses and GCs in the field of diopside crystalline materials have been synthesized and characterized by a wide array of techniques. All the glasses were prepared by melt-quenching technique while GCs were produced by sintering of glass powder compacts at the temperature ranges from 800ï€900 ºC for 1ï€1000 h. Furthermore, the influence of various ionic substitutions, especially SrO for CaO, and Ln2O3 (Ln=La, Nd, Gd, and Yb), for MgO + SiO2 in Al-containing diopside on the structure, sintering and crystallization behaviour of glasses and properties of resultant GCs has been investigated, in relevance with final application as sealants in SOFC. From the results obtained in the study of diopside-based glasses, a bi-layered concept of GC sealant is proposed to overcome the challenges being faced by SOFCs.Bi-layer GC contains a rigid and a self-healing (SH)GC layer. The concept behind the Bi-layer GC is : (i) a small gradient in the CTE will lead to lower thermal expansion mismatch between the sealing layers and the other SOFC components, thus provide enhanced mechanical reliability for the stack; (ii) cracks produced due to minor thermal stresses in the rigid GC layer can be healed by the SH-GC due to its sufficient amorphous content. Obtained experimental results from chemical, thermal, mechanical and electrical studies confirm the good suitability of the investigated bi-layered sealant system for SOFC applications.
Erfan Zalnezhad
Hanyang University, South Korea
Title: Fretting fatigue life evaluation of Zr/ZrO2 nanotubes coating on Ti-6Al-4V for biomedical application
Biography:
Erfan Zalnezhad has completed his PhD at the age of 34 years from University Malaya. In June 2013, he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In March 2015 he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea. Throughout his engineering career, he has awarded several major research projects funded by the public and private sectors, and he has also undertaken various consulting assignments in the field of surface coating, fatigue and fracture of materials. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.
Abstract:
Herein, the fretting fatigue behavior of zirconium nanotube arrays on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V is studied. Initially, a thin film of pure zirconium (Zr) was deposited onto a Ti-6Al-4V substrate using physical vapor deposition (PVD) magnetron sputtering for the primary layer at varying DC power, temperature and substrate bias voltage values. Consequently, nanotubes were produced via Zr anodization in an NH4F electrolyte solution (95 glycerol: 5 water) at different times and at a constant potential of 60 V (second layer). The fretting fatigue behavior of anodized samples annealed at 400℃ and 800℃ was investigated. The results indicate that the fretting fatigue life of the ZrO2 nanotube-coated samples was significantly improved at low and high cyclic fatigue at an annealing temperature of 400℃ compared to the uncoated samples.
Biography:
Om Parkash did his MTech and PhD in Material Science in 1975 and 1977 respectively from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India under C N R Rao, F.R.S. He joined as a Faculty Member in School of Materials Science & Technology, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, in 1980. He joined as a Professor of Electrical & Electronic Ceramics in the Dept. of Ceramic Engineering of the institute in 1998. He has been working on ‘Solid electrolytes and nanocomposites based on doped and co-doped ceria for intermediate and low temperature solid oxide fuel cells’. The objective of this research is to develop low cost solid electrolytes for the above purpose.
Abstract:
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are clean source of energy generation. Solid electrolyte constitutes an important component of the SOFCs. YSZ has been in use for this purpose. But it exhibits adequate oxygen ions conductivity at high temperature viz 900-1000°C. This high temperature puts lot of constraints on the use of materials in the construction of the cell and cell stacks. For the last few years, rare earth doped ceria has received a great deal of attention due to enhanced ionic conductivity in the intermediate temperature range 500-700°C. Samarium doped ceria SDC and gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) have been reported to have high ionic conductivity among trivalent lanthanides. But Sm and Gd are very costly. Hence, there is an increasing interest to identify and develop new ceria based oxides using cost-effective dopants for technological applications. A new co-doping approach has been introduced to further increase the conductivity in the intermediate temperature range and to reduce the cost also. An improvement in the conductivity has been found by co-doping. Recently, the research has been going on the ceria/salt based nanocomposite solid electrolyte to further increase the ionic conductivity at low temperature viz. 300-600°C. The composites, composed of two phases one is doped ceria crystalline phase and other is amorphous salt (carbonate, chloride, hydrate or sulphate), show conductivity in the range 0.01-1S-cm−1 at 400–600°C and suppress the electronic conductivity effectively. The present overview summarizes the investigations on the ionic conductivity of singly and co-doped ceria and nanocomposites based on ceria/carbonate dual phase.