Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conduction in Pyrochlore Oxides

Abstract

AbstractThe transport properties of the pyrochlore solid solution Gd2(ZrxTil-x)2O7 are investigated to clarify the relationships between composition, structural disorder and ionic and electronic transport. The oxygen ion conductivity has been found to increase sharply with increasing Zr content, x, due to enhanced structural disorder, leading to intrinsic ionic conduction at large values ofx. In contrast, the n—type conductivity predominant at low x, decreases sharply above x=0.2. Defect chemical models are presented to account for the simultaneous contributions of both intrinsic and dopant induced disorder. These models are applied to the σ(T, PO2, dopant) data to extract key thermodynamic and transport parameters. The significance of these parameters and the potential application of these materials in electrochemical devices are discussed.