Electrochemical devices, such as fuel cells, are becoming indispensable for new power production technologies due to their ability to efficiently produce renewable energy. Numerous devices, such as hydrogen pumps, sensors, separation membranes, and protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs), can make use of ceramic proton conductors.
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In particular, the PCFCs based on ceramic proton conductors are promising because they can work at lower temperatures compared with the conventional solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), thanks to the higher conductivity of protons at low temperatures.
The issue with conventional ceramic proton conductors is that they require oxygen vacancies that allow for the incorporation of water to exhibit adequate proton conductivity. The vacancies are typically produced by chemical substitution, which is frequently a challenging…