Decreasing Y2O3-doped barium zirconate (BZY) sintering temperature is crucial for its implementation in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). Bismuth oxide as sintering aid for BZY is evaluated. It is found that 3 mol% Bi2O3 doped BZY (BZY-3) improves its shrinkage from 10.4% to 19.02% at about 1480 degrees C, with the maximum shrinkage rate increasing from -0.20 mm min(-1) to -0.34 mm min(-1). The activation energy for densification is 5.40 eV for BZY-3. The SEM images confirms that it is porous for BZY without Bi2O3 (BZY-0), but that less small pores could be seen for BZY-3 and 5 mol% Bi2O3 doped BZY (BZY-5) sintered at 1400 degrees C for 24 h. Bi2O3 addition decreases the grain boundary conductivity for BZY-3 and BZY-5 obviously, but is less significant for BZY-2. It is 1.13 x 10(-3) S cm(-1) for BZY-2 in wet hydrogen atmosphere at 600 degrees C sintered at 1400 degrees C for 24 h, nearly equal to that of BZY-0. The open circuit voltage is 0.95 V. with the ionic transport number of 0.83 for BZY-2 under SOFC operating conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.