Interaction between Water and Ceria-Zirconia-Yttria Solid Solutions

We have investigated the water solubility, oxygen isotope diffusivity, and oxygen surface exchange coefficient in a humid atmosphere of the system {(CeO2)x(ZrO2)1−x}0.8(YO1.5)0.2 (x = 0–1) by using isotope exchange and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The deuterium ion (2D−) was detected from the {(CeO2)x(ZrO2)1−x}0.8(YO1.5)0.2 polycrystals which were annealed in D2O containing atmosphere. The solubility of deuterium in the polycrystals increased with the cerium content (x). The oxygen exchange rate constant (α) in air at T = 973 K shows a maximum at x = 0.2–0.3, which can be correlated to the compositional dependence of electronic conductivity of {(CeO2)x(ZrO2)1−x}0.8(YO1.5)0.2. The effect of water on the surface exchange rate constant was more significantly observed for the samples with higher content of cerium x > 0.6.