Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:34:23.969Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Measurement of Partial Conductivities in Mixed Conductors Using Blocking Electrodes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2011

Al Quoc Pham
Affiliation:
University of Houston, Department of Chemistry and Texas Center for Superconductivity, Houston, TX 77204-5641
Allan J. Jacobson
Affiliation:
University of Houston, Department of Chemistry and Texas Center for Superconductivity, Houston, TX 77204-5641
Get access

Abstract

The blocking electrode method commonly used for the determination of the partial conductivities in a mixed ionic-electronic conductor has been suspected by several authors to give incorrect results in some cases. Experimental evidence illustrating the limitations of this method are presented. The resistance of three pellets of YSZ, the middle one playing the role of a “mixed” conductor, was studied by ac impedance spectroscopy. The imperfect contacts on a microscopic scale formed at the interface between the blocking electrodes and the sample were shown to give rise to additional resistances which cannot be separated from the total bulk resistance. The method was also used to study the conductivity of gold metal. Despite the presence of the ionically blocking electrodes an electronic current is observed. This electronic leakage current is due to the interaction with the gaseous environment, the mixed conductor playing the role of an electrode for the conversion of oxygen ions to electrons.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Hebb, M. H., J. Chem. Phys. 20, 185 (1952).Google Scholar
2. Wagner, C., Z. Electrochem. 60, 4 (1956).Google Scholar
3. Teraoka, Y., Zhang, H. M., Okamoto, K. and Yamazoe, N., Mat. Res. Bull. 23, 51 (1988).Google Scholar
4. Vischjager, D. J., A. A. van Zomeren, Schoonman, J., Solid State Ionics 40/41, 810 (1990).Google Scholar
5. Carrillo-Cabrera, W., Wiemhofer, H-D. and Gopel, W., Solid Sate Ionics 32/33, 1172 (1989).Google Scholar
6. Irvine, J.T. S., Fletcher, J. G., West, A. R., Labrincha, J.A. and Marques, F.M.B. in Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Materials Science, eds. Poulsen, F. W., Bentzen, J. J., Jacobsen, T., Skou, E. and Ostergard, M. J. L., Riso 1993 pp. 263268.Google Scholar
7. Anderson, H.U., Chou, C., Tai, L. and Nasrallah, M. M. in Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Ionic and Mixed Conducting Ceramics, eds. Ramanarayanan, T. A., Worrell, W. L. and Tuller, H. L., The Electrochemical Society, Pennington, NJ 1994 pp. 376387.Google Scholar
8. Kontoulis, I. and Steele, B. C. H., Solid State Ionics 47, 317 (1991).Google Scholar
9. Riess, I. in Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Ionic and Mixed Conducting Ceramics, eds. Ramanarayanan, T. A., Worrell, W. L. and Tuller, H. L., The Electrochemical Society, Pennington, NJ 1994 pp. 286306.Google Scholar
10. Fabry, P., Schouler, E. and Kleitz, M., Electrochimica Acta. 23, 539 (1978).Google Scholar
11. Maier, J., Murugaraj, P., Pfundter, G. and Sitte, W., Ber. Buns. Phys. Chem. 93, 1350 (1989)Google Scholar
12. Riess, I., Solid State lonics 44, 207 (1991)Google Scholar
13. Pham, A.Q. and Jacobson, A.J. (to be published).Google Scholar