Quasielastic neutron scattering of hydrated BaZr(0.90)A(0.10)O(2.95) (A = Y and Sc)

Proton motions in hydrated proton conducting perovskites BaZr(0.90)A(0.10)O(2.95) (A = Y and Sc) have been investigated using quasielastic neutron scattering. The results reveal a localized motion on the ps time scale and with an activation energy of similar to 10-30 meV, in both materials. The temperature dependence of the total mean square displacement of the protons shows an onset of this motion at a temperature of about 300 K. The low activation energy, much lower than the activation energy for the macroscopic proton conductivity, suggests that this motion is not the rate-limiting process for the long-range proton diffusion, i.e. it is not linked to the two materials significantly different proton conductivities. In fact, a comparison of the QENS results with density functional theory calculations indicates that for both materials the observed motion may be ascribed to intra-octahedral proton transfers occurring close to a dopant atom. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Using Neutron Spin-Echo To Investigate Proton Dynamics in Proton-Conducting Perovskites

The applicability and potential of neutron spin-echo (NSE) to study proton dynamics in proton-conducting ceramics was studied. The experiment was performed on hydrated BaZr 0,90 Y 0.10 O 2.95 (10Y:BZO), a cubic perovskite with a relatively high proton conductivity. The NSE experiment was performed at the IN15 spectrometer at Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. The relaxation rate for two Q-values for the temperature 563 K was determined. The first-principles calculations were carried out within the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The calculated diffusion harriers far from Y-dopants are found to he 0.20 and 0.18 eV for the proton transfer and hydroxyl rotation motion, respectively. The binding energy to a Y-dopant is 0.16 eV, and the influence of the Y-dopant on the energetics for the proton is quite extended in space, including both the first and the second coordination shells