Grain Boundary Protonic Conductivity in Highly Dense Nano-crystalline Y-doped BaZrO<sub>3</sub>

Park, Hee-Jung; Munir, Zuhair A.; Kim, Sang-Tae; Park, Hee-Jung; Munir, Zuhair A.; Kim, Sang-Tae

doi:2010.47.1.71

J. Korean Ceram. Soc. > Volume 47(1); 2010 > Article

Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society 2010;47(1): 71.
doi: https://doi.org/10.4191/kcers.2010.47.1.071

Grain Boundary Protonic Conductivity in Highly Dense Nano-crystalline Y-doped BaZrO₃

Hee-Jung Park, Zuhair A. Munir, Sang-Tae Kim

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California

ABSTRACT

We have investigated protonic conduction in highly dense (>98%) polycrystalline Y-doepd $BaZrO_3$ (BYZ) ceramic with an average grain size of ~85 nm. It is observed that the protonic conductivity across the grain boundaries in this nano-crystallilne BYZ (n-BYZ) is significantly higher than the microcrystalline counterpart. Such a remarkable enhancement in grain boundary conductivity results in high overall conductivity that may allow this chemically stable protonic conductor to serve as a solid electrolyte for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cell applications.

Key words: Proton conductors, $BaZrO_3$, Nanocrystallline ceramics, Grain boundary conductivity, Spark plasma sintering