Ionic conductors, high temperature

The yttria addition to the zirconia-yttria solid solution has two functions to stabilize the cubic structure type fluorite and to form oxygen vacancies in concentrations proportional to the yttria content. These vacancies are responsible for high ionic conductivity. Yttria stabilized zirconia is a suitable ionic conductor at temperatures above 800 °C, since thin dense membranes (less than 20 pm) can be manufactured. These membranes should be free of impurities. The stabilized zirconia is chemically inert to most reactive gases and electrode materials. 

Nemst [1,2] studied the behavior of solid ionic conductors— high temperamre ceramics—for use as filaments in light bulbs. Nernst made a breakthrough discovery based on the observation of different types of conductivity in stabilized zirconia, or zirconium oxide doped by a few mole per cent of calcia, magnesia, yttria, etc. At that time, the use of other materials for this purpose was problematic due to their unfavorable resistance characteristics—a rise in temperature caused an increase in resistance, and thus the metal wires were not able to obtain a... 

Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell. Concentrated phosphoric acid is used for the electrolyte ia PAFC, which operates at 150 to 220°C. At lower temperatures, phosphoric acid is a poor ionic conductor (see Phosphoric acid and the phosphates), and CO poisoning of the Pt electrocatalyst ia the anode becomes more severe when steam-reformed hydrocarbons (qv) are used as the hydrogen-rich fuel. The relative stabiUty of concentrated phosphoric acid is high compared to other common inorganic acids consequentiy, the PAFC is capable of operating at elevated temperatures. In addition, the use of concentrated (- 100%) acid minimizes the water-vapor pressure so water management ia the cell is not difficult. The porous matrix used to retain the acid is usually sihcon carbide SiC, and the electrocatalyst ia both the anode and cathode is mainly Pt. 

Breiter, M. W. Low-Temperature Electrochemistry at High-T2 Superconductor/Ionic Conductor Interfaces 28... 

Because of the high values of conductivity which in individual cases are found at room temperature, such compounds are often called superionic conductors or ionic superconductors but these designations are unfounded, and a more correct designation is solid ionic conductors. Strictly unipolar conduction is typical for all solid ionic conductors in the silver double salts, conduction is due to silver ion migration, whereas in the sodium polyaluminates, conduction is due to sodium ion migration. 

Inconsistency of performance with a bulk path at low vacancy concentration. A quantitative comparison between predictions of the Adler model and impedance data for LSC shows the poorest agreement (underprediction of performance) at low temperatures, high F02. and/or low Sr content. These are the conditions under which the bulk vacancy concentration (and thus also the ionic conductivity and surface exchange rate of oxygen with the bulk) are the lowest. These are exactly the conditions under which we would expect a parallel surface path (if it existed) to manifest itself, raising performance above that predicted for the bulk path alone. Indeed, as discussed more fully in section 5, the Adler model breaks down completely for LSM (a poor ionic conductor at open-circuit conditions), predicting an... 

SOE cells utilize solid ceramic electrolytes (e.g. yttria stabilized zirconia) that are good oxygen ion (0 ) conductors at very high temperatures in the range of 1000°C [8]. The operating temperature is decided by the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte. The feed gas, steam mixed with hydrogen, is passed through the cathode compartment. At the cathode side, the reaction is... 

Some ionic solids have been discovered that have a much higher conductivity than is typical for such compounds and these are known as fast-ion conductors. One of the earliest to be noticed, in 1913 by Tubandt and Lorenz, was a high temperature phase of silver iodide. 

A large number of oxides which are commonly solid insulators at room temperature (e.g., A1203) yield highly conducting (specific conductance > 10 ohm-1 cm-1) melts on fusion. Some of these melts are undoubtedly ionic conductors whereas others are electronic conductors. It is, however, not always possible to differentiate between these two general types since both mechanisms may be operative to comparable extents at a particular temperature. Relatively few experiments have been reported in which reliable estimates of the transport numbers of either ions or electrons could be made. The subdivision in this section into the two general types of conductors is thus not to be interpreted as rigid. 

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