Superionic Conduction Through Lattice Engineering of Fluorites Stabilizing Periodic Oxygen Vacancy Network

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Authors: Shahzad Rasool, Muhammad Faisal Anwar, Sarfraz, Nabeela Akbar, Wei Zhou, Shuo Wan, Dr Rizwan Raza, Muhammad Afzal, Li Sun, Chenjie Lou, Mingxue Tang, Aristides D. Zdetsis
+7 more Hind Himayyid Aljaddani, Mohamed Elfleet, Peter D. Lund, Muhammad Imran Asghar, Yifu Jing, Qi Fan, Bin Zhu
Cited by: 4
References: 33

Abstract

Superionic conductors with an exceptionally high ionic conductivity are placed central in the development of next‐generation energy conversion and storage technologies, yet their designing approach and materials remain a persistent challenge. Here, we report an alternative cation‐ordered Ce–Al (1:1) fluorite oxide (ACO) that stabilizes a periodic oxygen vacancy (O v ) network to build the required architecture. The resulting lattice‐engineered configuration creates a uniform and flattened potential energy landscape with significantly reduced activation energy, capable of a superionic conductivity of 0.216 S cm −1 and a fuel cell power density of 1086 mW cm −2 at 500 °C. Unlike conventional random ion hopping in doped oxides, the vacancy‐ordered framework supports coherent, phonon‐assisted and wave‐like ions motion enabling dielectric‐enhanced superionic conduction. These findings introduce a new family of superionic conductors, where lattice‐level ordering of both cations and O v s offers a scalable design strategy for high‐performance efficient electrochemical systems.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advancements in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction Inorganic Fluorides and Related Compounds

Publication details

Journal / source
Energy & environment materials
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
9
Issue
3
Publication date
6 January 2026
Language
EN