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High proton conduction in grain-boundary-free yttrium-doped barium zirconate films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 846–852 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Reducing the operating temperature in the 500–750 °C range is needed for widespread use of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Proton-conducting oxides are gaining wide interest as electrolyte materials for this aim. We report the fabrication of BaZr0.8Y0.2O3−δ (BZY) proton-conducting electrolyte thin films by pulsed laser deposition on different single-crystalline substrates. Highly textured, epitaxially oriented BZY films were obtained on (100)-oriented MgO substrates, showing the largest proton conductivity ever reported for BZY samples, being 0.11 S cm−1 at 500 °C. The excellent crystalline quality of BZY films allowed for the first time the experimental measurement of the large BZY bulk conductivity above 300 °C, expected in the absence of blocking grain boundaries. The measured proton conductivity is also significantly larger than the conductivity values of oxygen-ion conductors in the same temperature range, opening new potential for the development of miniaturized SOFCs for portable power supply.

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Figure 1: XRD analysis of BZY films.
Figure 2: Morphology influence on conductivity.
Figure 3: EIS analysis of BZY films.
Figure 4: Arrhenius plots of BZY film conductivity in different atmospheres.
Figure 5: Electrical conductivity comparisons.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Ministry of University and Research (MiUR) of Italy under the frame of the FISR project ‘Polymer and Ceramic Electrolyte for Fuel Cells: System Validation and Development of New Materials’, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) of Italy under the frame of the Italy-USA Joint Laboratory on ‘Nanomaterials for Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy’, and by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative of MEXT, Japan. The authors would like to thank A. Chincarini for his helpful contribution for X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, and D. Marrè and E. Bellingeri for clarifying discussions and comments.

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Author notes

  1. Daniele Pergolesi and Emiliana Fabbri: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NAST Center & Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, University of Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, 00133 Rome, Italy

    Daniele Pergolesi, Emiliana Fabbri, Alessandra D’Epifanio, Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo, Simone Sanna, Silvia Licoccia & Enrico Traversa

  2. International Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan

    Daniele Pergolesi, Emiliana Fabbri & Enrico Traversa

  3. CNR-SPIN and Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, University of Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, 00133 Rome, Italy

    Antonello Tebano & Giuseppe Balestrino

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  1. Daniele Pergolesi
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Contributions

D.P. fabricated the films by PLD, carried out the XRD measurements, helped in the electrical measurements and wrote the manuscript together with E.F., who also carried out SEM observations, electrochemical measurements and analysed the data. A.D.E. and E.D.B. helped in the electrochemical measurements. A.T. and S.S. helped in thin-film fabrication and characterization. G.B. and S.L. supervised the work and revised the manuscript. E.T. was involved in study design, supervision of the work and manuscript revision.

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Correspondence to Enrico Traversa.

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Pergolesi, D., Fabbri, E., D’Epifanio, A. et al. High proton conduction in grain-boundary-free yttrium-doped barium zirconate films grown by pulsed laser deposition. Nature Mater 9, 846–852 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2837

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