Enhanced oxide-ion conductivity in highly c-axis textured La10Si6O27 ceramic

Here, we report a highly c-axis textured apatite-type La10Si6O27 ceramic with conductivity of 1.3 x 10(-2) S cm(-1) at 500 degrees C, which is an 11.2 times enhancement compared with isotropic La10Si6O27 ceramic. The highly c-axis textured La10Si6O27 was fabricated by a arc-melting process with a unilateral temperature gradient as the main driving force for the formation of the La10Si6O27 texture. The conductivity enhancement is mainly attributed to the enhanced mobility contribution along the c-axis with low activation energy and the relatively small grain boundary blocking effect along the c-axis.