Hydrogen diffusion in high temperature proton conducting ceramics

BaCeO3 or SrCeO3-based perovskites doped with a rare earth are high temperature protonic conductors (HTPC) envisioned as electrolytes for fuel cells working at intermediate temperature (400-600 °C). In these ceramics, the proton conductance is hampered by microstructural defects that act as barriers for hydrogen diffusion. Respective contributions of bulk and grain boundaries to overall conductivity is usually evidenced via impedance measurements but further information on hydrogen transport relevant for improvement of microstructure design can be obtained with nuclear microanalysis, based on the use of MeV light ions microbeam. We report here a contribution of ion beam microanalysis to the study of hydrogen transport in BaCe0.9Y0.1O3. ERDA hydrogen profiling performed on partially hydrated samples at 200 and 500 °C reveals concentration gradients from which diffusion coefficients have been derived with the help of a simple Fickian diffusion model.