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Comparative studies of hydrogen dissolution and release behavior in zirconate oxides by TDS and TMAP4 analysis

Proton-conducting oxides are potential materials for electrochemical devices such as fuel cells, hydrogen pumps, hydrogen sensors, and the tritium purification and recovery system in nuclear fusion reactors. The hydrogen concentration in oxide materials is important, but its precise measurement is difficult. In this study, thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) was used to investigate hydrogen dissolution and release behavior in proton-conducting oxides, yttrium (Y), and cobalt (Co) doped barium-zirconates in the temperature range of 673-1273 K using deuterium (D2) and heavy water (D2O). Specimens were prepared with conventional powder metallurgy: the powder of three zirconates, BaZr0.9Y0.1O3-a (BZY), BaZr0.955Y0.03Co0.015O3-a (BZYC), and CaZr0.9In0.1O2.95 (CZI) was pressed into discs and fired in the air at 1873 K for 20 h. The densities of the sintered BZY, BZYC, and CZI specimens were 98 percent, 99.7 percent, and 99.5 percent of the theoretical densities respectively. XRD, SEM, and EDX were performed for the structural and morphological analysis of the sintered samples. From TDS measurement, a similar trend of temperature-dependent hydrogen solubility was obtained for all samples compared to the tritium imaging plate (TIP) methods literature data of HT- and DTO-exposed samples. To compare the experimental results of the deuterium desorption profile derived by TDS analysis, the simulation code of the tritium migration analysis program, version 4 (TMAP4) was employed.