Doped perovskite oxides have been widely studied in recent years as proton conducting solid electrolytes for different electrochemical devices, e.g. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). By using the proton conductor as the electrolyte in a SOFC, the fuel dilution issue can be avoided due to the water formation at the cathode side instead of the anode. Among all the alkaline-earth cerates and zirconates, Y doped BaZrO₃  (BZY) has been considered one of the most promising electrolyte for the SOFCs applications for its significant proton conductivity as well as chemical stability.[1] However, most reported fuel cell performance values for this material is much lower than oxide ion conducting ceramics such as YSZ owing to an unavoidable microstructure change, i.e. high grain boundary density and low degree of the crystallinity. 

In order to correlate the microstructure with the conductivity, we prepared BZY thin films by Pulsed Laser Deposition and discussed the effect of the microstructure on the proton conductivity.

In this presentation I will show the conductivity behavior as a function of temperature and thickness by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS).[2] I will focus on the interface between BZY and substrate NdGaO₃ and show the cross-sectional electrochemical activity change with nanoscale resolution by Electrochemical Strain Microscopy (ESM). [3] I will highlight the interplay between the interface defects and the electrochemical performance by comparing the EIS, ESM results with Scanning Transmission Electron microscopy (STEM). I will further show the complementary study by bulk sensitive hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements which, together with Density Functional Theory calculations, demonstrate that Y and, to some extent, also Zr ions, substitute for Ba near the interface with the substrate. 

[1] A. D’Epifanio, E. Fabbri, E. Di Bartolomeo, S. Licoccia, E. Traversa, Fuel Cells, 1,69-762008 (2008).

[2] V. Foglietti, Nan Yang, A. Tebano, C. Aruta, E. Di Bartolomeo, S. Licoccia, C. Cantoni, G. Balestrino, Applied Physics Letters 104 , 081612 (2014).

[3] Nan Yang, C. Cantoni, V. Foglietti, A. Tebano, A. Belianinov, E. Strelcov, S. Jesse, D. Di Castro, E. Di Bartolomeo, S. Licoccia, S. V. Kalinin, G. Balestrino and C. Aruta, Nano Letters, 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00698, (2015).