Exploring electronic conduction through BaCexZr0.9?xY0.1O3?d proton-conducting ceramics

By Dippon, Michael; Babiniec, Sean M.; Ding, Hanping; Ricote, Sandrine; Sullivan, Neal P.
Published in Solid State Ionics NULL 2016

Abstract

Abstract This work explores the formation of undesirable electronic leakage in BaCexZr0.9?xY0.1O3?d (BCZY) proton-conducting ceramic thin membranes used in H2O-electrolysis and hydrogen-pumping applications. Very low hydrogen fluxes (hydrogen transport number below 0.4) through thin {BCZY} membranes during electrolysis operation were recently reported. These poor performances were explained by the presence of an undesirable electronic leakage that forms due to reduction of cerium in the {BCZY} material. In this paper, we investigate the influence of the cerium content in the {BCZY} membranes on the magnitude of this electronic leakage. Three compositions were fabricated with x = 0, 0.1, and 0.2 (BZY10, BCZY18, and BCZY27, respectively). Unique gas conditions were chosen to isolate specific charge carriers present in the thin membranes, and decouple the electronic-conduction effects. While significant electronic leakage was observed in the {BCZY27} material under these well-defined conditions, minimal leakage was detected in {BCZY18} and BZY10. These results confirm that the presence of the electronic leakage is linked to the cerium content and is most probably due to the reduction of cerium ions under bias. Additionally, {BCZY18} is the preferred composition for electrolysis applications due to its relative lack of electronic conductivity, reasonable protonic conductivity, and affinity for high-density sintering.

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