High-throughput screening and in situ hydration mechanism of perovskite electrodes

In the proposed experiment, continuous compositional spread (CCS) thin films of PrNiO3–PrCoO3 and related systems will be screened for novel perovskite electrodes for application in protonic electrochemical cells. The capabilities at BM31 will be utilized for high-throughput structural and chemical characterization of unique compositions, exploiting a combinatorial methodology established at our previous visit. Moreover, powder samples of promising compositions will be studied in detail using in situ XAS upon proton uptake from H2O to elucidate hypothesized redox processes upon hydration and combined with local structure analysis. The study will be supported by complementary techniques include thermogravimetry for direct measurement of proton uptake from D2O, neutron total scattering (sensitive to hydrogen/deuterium) and density functional theory (DFT).