For protonic ceramic fuel cells, it is key to develop material with high intrinsic activity for oxygen activation and bulk proton conductivity enabling water formation at entire electrode surface. However, a higher water content which benefitting for the increasing proton conductivity will not only dilute the oxygen in the gas, but also suppress the O2 adsorption on the electrode surface. Herein, a new electrode design concept is proposed, that may overcome this dilemma. By introducing a second phase with high‐hydrating capability into a conventional cobalt‐free perovskite to form a unique nanocomposite electrode, high proton conductivity/concentration can be reached at low water content in atmosphere. In addition, the hydronation creates additional fast proton transport channel along the two‐phase interface. As a result, high protonic conductivity is reached, leading to a new breakthrough in performance for proton ceramic fuel cells and electrolysis cells devices among available air electrodes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.