ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

High-resolution neutron diffraction study of defect fluorite oxide ionic conductors

Abstract: Ionic conducting defect fluorite oxides, including heavily Al-doped ceria Ce0.3Al0.7O2 and 40 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (40YSZ), exhibit enhanced mixed OH /H+/O2- bulk conductivity (<0.01 S/cm at 200 C) in hydrated environments below 200 C, outperforming traditional low-dopant benchmarks. Laboratory XRD confirms the phase purity of the samples, but oxygen vacancy ordering which is critical to conduction mechanisms, remains unresolved due to X-ray insensitivity to light anions amid heavy cations. This proposal wishes to undertake high-resolution neutron powder diffraction measurements on four samples: vacuum-dried and D2O-washed variants of both materials. Room-temperature scans will assess bulk proton/deuterium uptake versus surface effects; variable-temperature (RT to 250 C) measurements on deuterated samples will probe anion sublattice dynamics correlating with conductivity data. Results will elucidate vacancy/interstitial pathways, guiding electrolyte optimization for low-temperature direct ammonia fuel cells.

Principal Investigator: Dr Alex Brown
Local Contact: Dr Ivan da Silva Gonzalez
Experimenter: Mr renhang wang
Experimenter: Professor Shanwen Tao

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610357

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2610357

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Alex Brown et al; (2026): High-resolution neutron diffraction study of defect fluorite oxide ionic conductors, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610357

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.