Oxygen diffusion mechanism in the mixed ion-electron conductor NdBaCo2O5+x

Double perovskite cobaltites were recently presented as promising cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells. While an atomistic mechanism was proposed for oxygen diffusion in this family of materials, no direct experimental proof has been presented so far. We report here the first study that directly compares experimental and theoretical diffusion pathways of oxygen in an oxide, namely in the double cobaltite compound, NdBaCo2O5+x. Model-free experimental nuclear density maps are obtained from the maximum entropy method combined with Rietveld refinement against high resolution neutron diffraction data collected at 1173 K. They are then compared to theoretical maps resulting from classical molecular dynamics calculations. The analysis of 3D maps of atomic densities allows identifying unambiguously the pathways and the mechanisms involved in the oxide ion diffusion. It is shown that oxygen diffusion occurs along a complex trajectory between Nd- and Co-containing a,b planes. The study also reveals that Ba-containing planes act as a barrier for oxygen diffusion. The diffusion mechanism is also supported through the oxygen sites occupancy analysis that confirms the increase of oxygen vacancies in the cobalt-planes on heating. The use of such combined experimental and theoretical analysis should be considered as a very powerful approach for materials design.