title: Microanalysis of a grain boundary's blocking effect in lanthanum silicate electrolyte for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells.
abstract: In order to study the grain boundary's (GB's) blocking effect in lanthanum silicate electrolyte, high density Al-doped apatite-type lanthanum silicate was synthesized and characterized by impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. Microstructural characterization indicated that the GB's blocking effect was an intrinsic effect. Further microanalysis shows that the GB region is rich in La and poor in Si in comparing with the grain interior (GI). Our discussion suggested that the chemical variation from GI to GB, on the one hand, could degrade the GB region's conductivity; on the other hand, it introduced a strong space-charge effect at GBs. The latter was believed to play a dominant role in the GB's blocking effect.
authors.affiliation: Global Research Center for Environmental and Energy based on Nanomaterials Science (GREEN), National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. YAN.Pengfei@nims.go.jp
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mineshige
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Graeme John
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Auchterlonie
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Drennan