ABSTRACT Reducing the operating temperature in the 500–750 °C range is needed for widespread use of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Proton-conducting oxides are gaining wide interest as

electrolyte materials for this aim. We report the fabrication of BaZr0.8Y0.2O3−_δ_ (BZY) proton-conducting electrolyte thin films by pulsed laser deposition on different single-crystalline

substrates. Highly textured, epitaxially oriented BZY films were obtained on (100)-oriented MgO substrates, showing the largest proton conductivity ever reported for BZY samples, being 0.11 

S cm−1 at 500 °C. The excellent crystalline quality of BZY films allowed for the first time the experimental measurement of the large BZY bulk conductivity above 300 °C, expected in the

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oxides fuel cell applications: Playing with ceria. _J. Am. Ceram. Soc._ 91, 1037–1051 (2008). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was partly

supported by the Ministry of University and Research (MiUR) of Italy under the frame of the FISR project ‘Polymer and Ceramic Electrolyte for Fuel Cells: System Validation and Development of

New Materials’, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) of Italy under the frame of the Italy-USA Joint Laboratory on ‘Nanomaterials for Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy’, and by the World

Premier International Research Center Initiative of MEXT, Japan. The authors would like to thank A. Chincarini for his helpful contribution for X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, and

D. Marrè and E. Bellingeri for clarifying discussions and comments. AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * Daniele Pergolesi and Emiliana Fabbri: These authors contributed equally to this work

AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * NAST Center & Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, University of Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, 00133 Rome, Italy Daniele Pergolesi, Emiliana Fabbri, Alessandra

D’Epifanio, Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo, Simone Sanna, Silvia Licoccia & Enrico Traversa * International Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for

Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan Daniele Pergolesi, Emiliana Fabbri & Enrico Traversa * CNR-SPIN and Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, University of Roma

‘Tor Vergata’, 00133 Rome, Italy Antonello Tebano & Giuseppe Balestrino Authors * Daniele Pergolesi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Emiliana Fabbri View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alessandra D’Epifanio View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Antonello Tebano View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Simone Sanna View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Silvia Licoccia View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Giuseppe Balestrino View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Enrico

Traversa View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS D.P. fabricated the films by PLD, carried out the XRD measurements, helped in the

electrical measurements and wrote the manuscript together with E.F., who also carried out SEM observations, electrochemical measurements and analysed the data. A.D.E. and E.D.B. helped in

the electrochemical measurements. A.T. and S.S. helped in thin-film fabrication and characterization. G.B. and S.L. supervised the work and revised the manuscript. E.T. was involved in study

design, supervision of the work and manuscript revision. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Enrico Traversa. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing

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ARTICLE Pergolesi, D., Fabbri, E., D’Epifanio, A. _et al._ High proton conduction in grain-boundary-free yttrium-doped barium zirconate films grown by pulsed laser deposition. _Nature Mater_

9, 846–852 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2837 Download citation * Received: 07 September 2009 * Accepted: 15 July 2010 * Published: 19 September 2010 * Issue Date: October 2010 * DOI:

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