Electrochemical hydrogen pumps using Ba doped LaYbO3 type proton conducting electrolyte

•The theoretical hydrogen pumping using LBYb-91 electrolyte is possible.•LBYb-91 can conduct a large amount of protons as much as 100 mA cm−2.•LBYb-91 has a high chemical stability against CO2 and H2O.•LBYb-91 electrolyte is suitable for H2 separation from the reformed natural gas.

The electrochemical hydrogen pumping using Ba doped LaYbO3 oxide (La0.9Ba0.1YbO3−α, LBYb-91) was investigated in this work. It was found that LBYb-91 can conduct a large amount of protons as much as 100 mA cm−2 and the theoretical hydrogen evolution is actually occurred by the proton conduction. It was also found that LBYb-91 has high chemical stability against CO2 and H2O, and showed a comparable cell performance to SrZr0.9Y0.1O3−α (SZY-91) with porous palladium electrode. The present study demonstrated that LBYb-91 is a potential candidate electrolyte material for the electrochemical cell to separate hydrogen from the reformed natural gas.