Theoretical description of superionic conductivities in samaria doped ceria based nanocomposites

Superionic conductivity becomes true based on recent developments on ceria-based nanocomposites as electrolytes with application for low temperature (300–600 °C) solid oxide fuel cells. We theoretically describe the superionic conductivity phenomena in samaria doped ceria nanocomposites. An improved effective-medium model was used to determine the ionic conductivity of the materials focusing on a core-shell structure of the as-prepared samaria doped ceria based composite particles. This work reveals the enhancement of ionic conductivity by interface proton and oxygen ion transportation in the composites, which agrees well with the experimental results.