Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Solid oxide fuel cells

Cool proton conductors

Nature Energy volume 7, pages 1124–1125 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Achieving high ionic conductivity at close to room temperature in solid oxide electrolytes is challenging due to the large thermal activation needed for ion transport. Now, a hydrogen-intercalated brownmillerite oxide, SrCoO2.5, has been shown to function as a high-performance proton conducting electrolyte for fuel cells below 200°C.

Ionic conductors are important for a range of energy technologies, such as fuel cells and batteries. In particular, electron-insulating solid oxide materials that can conduct protons or oxygen-ions efficiently can serve as electrolytes for chemical-to-electrical energy conversion in high-temperature electrochemical cells. Stationary applications demand high-temperature (typically 600–1,200°C) solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that exhibit high efficiency and can operate with various fuels from natural gas to mixed fuel that contains impurities. However, the use of SOFCs for mobile applications has been limited by the poor ionic conductivity of electrolytes at low temperatures (500°C or below). This temperature range presents several challenges, including the need for high performance super-ionic conductors, catalytic electrodes with minimal polarization resistance, and fuel flexibility1.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Hydrogenated brownmillerite SrCoO2.5 as a low temperature fuel cell electrolyte.

References

  1. Dyer, C. K. J. J. Power Sources 106, 31–34 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Singhal, S. C. Solid State Ion. 152, 405–410 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lu, N. et al. Nat. Energy https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01166-8 (2022).

  4. Fabbri, E. et al. Solid State Ion. 179, 558–564 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhou, Y. et al. Nature 534, 231–234 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Muñoz, A. et al. Phys. Rev. B 78, 054404 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Ravindra Singh Bisht & Shriram Ramanathan

  2. School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Shriram Ramanathan

Authors
  1. Ravindra Singh Bisht
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shriram Ramanathan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shriram Ramanathan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bisht, R.S., Ramanathan, S. Cool proton conductors. Nat Energy 7, 1124–1125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01165-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01165-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing