Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 August 2008:
Vol. 321. no. 5889, pp. 676 - 680
DOI: 10.1126/science.1156393
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Colossal Ionic Conductivity at Interfaces of Epitaxial ZrO2:Y2O3/SrTiO3 Heterostructures

J. Garcia-Barriocanal,1 A. Rivera-Calzada,1 M. Varela,2 Z. Sefrioui,1 E. Iborra,3 C. Leon,1 S. J. Pennycook,2 J. Santamaria1*

The search for electrolyte materials with high oxygen conductivities is a key step toward reducing the operation temperature of fuel cells, which is currently above 700°C. We report a high lateral ionic conductivity, showing up to eight orders of magnitude enhancement near room temperature, in yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)/strontium titanate epitaxial heterostructures. The enhancement of the conductivity is observed, along with a YSZ layer thickness–independent conductance, showing that it is an interface process. We propose that the atomic reconstruction at the interface between highly dissimilar structures (such as fluorite and perovskite) provides both a large number of carriers and a high-mobility plane, yielding colossal values of the ionic conductivity.

1 Grupo de Física de Materiales Complejos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain.
2 Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
3 Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jacsan{at}fis.ucm.es

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy: from atomic imaging and analysis to solving energy problems.
S. J. Pennycook, M. F. Chisholm, A. R. Lupini, M. Varela, A. Y. Borisevich, M. P. Oxley, W. D. Luo, K. van Benthem, S.-H. Oh, D. L. Sales, et al. (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc A 367, 3709-3733
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Comment on "Colossal Ionic Conductivity at Interfaces of Epitaxial ZrO2:Y2O3/SrTiO3 Heterostructures".
X. Guo (2009)
Science 324, 465
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Colossal Ionic Conductivity at Interfaces of Epitaxial ZrO2:Y2O3/SrTiO3 Heterostructures".
J. Garcia-Barriocanal, A. Rivera-Calzada, M. Varela, Z. Sefrioui, E. Iborra, C. Leon, S. J. Pennycook, and J. Santamaria (2009)
Science 324, 465
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)