Orienting Strained Interfaces designed to Direct Energy Flow (Final Technical Report)

Abstract

This proposal aims to establish a transformative paradigm for oxide heterostructures with an exceptionally large number of interfaces designed to direct energy flow through controlled interface orientation, enabling fast ion transport. A primary focus is on unveiling the key role of interfacial strain in oxygen ion migration at low temperatures. The central challenge is to create, understand, utilize self-assembled vertical heteroepitaxial nanostructures with the goal of obtaining and understanding fast ion transport properties by modulating interfacial strain. The specific objectives are: (1) to synthesize multilayer thin films and vertical heteroepitaxial nanostructures with fluorite Gd-doped CeO 2 (GDC) and bixbyite RE 2 O 3 (RE = Y and Sm), (2) to evaluate the interfacial strain states under various temperatures and ambient conditions, (3) to understand the effect of interfacial strain on ionic conductivity of the proposed nanostructures, (4) to understand the three-dimensional (3D) atomic structure of the proposed material design and interface phenomena at the atomic scale.