Hydration and proton conductivity in LaAsO4
Abstract
Incorporation and transport of protonic defects have been studied in nominally undoped and 1 and 3 mol% Sr-doped LaAsO4 prepared by a co-precipitation route. AC impedance of the materials was measured as a function of temperature (1150 to 400 °C), pO2 (1 to 1 × 10−5 atm) and pH2O (0.025 to 3 × 10−5 atm). The bulk conductivities generally decrease with decreasing temperature and moreover with decreasing pH2O within the whole temperature range. At the highest temperatures, a small decrease in the conductivity with decreasing pO2 was also observed. The defect structure of Sr-doped LaAsO4 appears to be dominated by oxygen vacancies in the form of pyroarsenate ions, As2O4−7, in dry atmospheres at high temperatures and by protonic defects in the form of hydrogen arsenate ions, HAsO2−4, in wet atmospheres. A significant isotope effect shows that