Dimer-Mediated Cooperative Mechanism of Ultrafast-Ion Conduction in Hexagonal Perovskite-Related Oxides

Abstract

Oxide-ion and proton conductors have found diverse applications such as in electrolytes of solid-oxide, proton-conducting, and hybrid-ion fuel cells. Research of fuel cells with higher energy efficiency at lower operating temperature has stimulated the search for ion conductors and improved the understanding of the ion-diffusion mechanism. Ion conduction in hexagonal perovskite-related materials is rare, and the mechanism of ion diffusion is unclear. Herein, we report high oxide-ion and proton conductivity (bulk conductivities in wet air: 11 and 2.7 mS cm-1 at 537 and 326 °C, respectively), high chemical, and electrical stability in a new hexagonal perovskite-related oxide Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1. Total direct current conductivity at 400 °C in wet air of Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1 was 13 times higher than that of Ba7Nb4MoO20. We also report a unique dimer-mediated cooperative mechanism of the high oxide-ion conduction of Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1 (bulk conductivities in dry air: 10 mS cm-1 at 593 °C and 1.1 mS cm-1 at 306 °C). Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations, neutron-diffraction experiments at 800 °C, and neutron scattering length density analyses of Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1 indicated that the excess oxygen atoms are incorporated by the formation of both 5-fold coordinated (Nb/Mo)O5 monomer and its (Nb/Mo)2O9 dimer with a corner-sharing oxygen atom and that the breaking and reforming of the dimers lead to the high oxide-ion conduction in the oxygen-deficient BaO2.1 c′ layer. The long distance between Nb/Mo and Ba cations sandwiching the c′ layer of Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1 was found to be responsible for its low activation energy for oxide-ion conduction, leading to high conductivity at low temperatures. AIMD simulations showed that high proton conduction can be attributed to proton migration in the hexagonal close-packed BaO3 layers of Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1. The present findings hold a great promise for the development and design of ion conductors.