Atomistic study of a CaTiO3-based mixed conductor: Defects, nanoscale clusters, and oxide-ion migration

Mixed oxide-ion and electronic conductivity can be exploited in dense ceramic membranes for controlled oxygen separation as a means of producing pure oxygen or integrating with catalytic oxidation. Atomistic simulation has been used to probe the energetics of defects dopant-vacancy association, nanoscale cluster formation, and oxide-ion transport in mixed-conducting CaTiO3. The most favorable energetics for trivalent dopant substitution on the Ti site are found for Mn3+ and Sc3+. Dopant-vacancy association is predicted for pair clusters and neutral trimers. Low binding energies are found for Sc3+ in accordance with the high oxide-ion conductivity of Sc-doped CaTiO3. The preferred location for Fe4+ is in a hexacoordinated site, which supports experimental evidence that Fe4+ promotes the termination of defect chains and increases disorder. A higher oxide-ion migration energy for a vacancy mechanism is predicted along a pathway adjacent to an Fe3+ ion rather than Fe4+ and Ti4+, consistent with the higher observed activation energies for ionic transport in reduced CaTi(Fe)O3-delta.