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A family of oxide ion conductors based on the ferroelectric perovskite Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3

Nature Materials volume 13, pages 31–35 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Oxide ion conductors find important technical applications in electrochemical devices such as solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), oxygen separation membranes and sensors1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) is a well-known lead-free piezoelectric material; however, it is often reported to possess high leakage conductivity that is problematic for its piezo- and ferroelectric applications10,11,12,13,14,15. Here we report this high leakage to be oxide ion conduction due to Bi-deficiency and oxygen vacancies induced during materials processing. Mg-doping on the Ti-site increases the ionic conductivity to ~0.01 S cm−1 at 600 °C, improves the electrolyte stability in reducing atmospheres and lowers the sintering temperature. This study not only demonstrates how to adjust the nominal NBT composition for dielectric-based applications, but also, more importantly, gives NBT-based materials an unexpected role as a completely new family of oxide ion conductors with potential applications in intermediate-temperature SOFCs and opens up a new direction to design oxide ion conductors in perovskite oxides.

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Figure 1: Significant changes in electrical conductivity with low levels of non-stoichiometry in NBT.
Figure 2: Oxygen partial pressure dependence of electrical conductivity and oxygen ion transport numbers.
Figure 3: 18O tracer diffusion profiles.
Figure 4: Comparison of bulk oxide ion conductivity with other known oxide ion conductors.

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Change history

  • 02 December 2013

    In the version of this Letter originally published online, in Fig. 3a,b the unit for k* was incorrect; it should have read 'cm s–1'. This error has been corrected in all versions of the Letter.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the EPSRC for funding EP/G005001/1 and EP/K001329/1. D. Cumming (University of Sheffield) is acknowledged for helpful discussions and advice on EMF measurements. L. Li (University of Sheffield) is acknowledged for assistance with sample preparation for SEM–EDS and ICP–AES analysis. N. Bramall (University of Sheffield) is acknowledged for ICP–AES analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sir Robert Hadfield Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK

    Ming Li, Huairuo Zhang, Ian M. Reaney & Derek C. Sinclair

  2. Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University and JARA-FIT, D-52056 Aachen, Germany

    Martha J. Pietrowski & Roger A. De Souza

  3. Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

    Stuart N. Cook & John A. Kilner

  4. International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), 744 Motooka Nishi-ku Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan

    John A. Kilner

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  1. Ming Li
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Contributions

M.L. and D.C.S. conceived the idea of the project. M.L. prepared the samples, performed the XRD, SEM, impedance spectroscopy and oxygen transport number measurements. TEM analysis was performed by H.Z. and I.M.R. 18O tracer diffusion measurements were performed independently by M.J.P. and R.A.D.S. (Fig. 3) at RWTH Aachen University and S.N.C. and J.A.K. (Supplementary Fig. 5) at Imperial College London. M.L. and D.C.S. wrote the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript. D.C.S. supervised the project.

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Correspondence to Derek C. Sinclair.

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Li, M., Pietrowski, M., De Souza, R. et al. A family of oxide ion conductors based on the ferroelectric perovskite Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3. Nature Mater 13, 31–35 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3782

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