Molybdenum substituted lanthanum tungstate, La28–y
(W1–x
Mo
x
)4+y
O54+δ (x = 0–1, y = 0.923), was
investigated seeking for an enhancement of the n-type electronic conductivity
for its use as a mixed electron–proton conductor in hydrogen
gas separation membrane applications. The materials were synthesized
by the freeze-drying precursor method, and they were single phase
after firing between 1300 and 1500 °C for x ≤
0.8. The crystal structure changed from cubic (x ≤
0.4) to rhombohedral (x ≥ 0.6) with increasing
the molybdenum content. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations
revealed an ordering of the oxygen vacancies with increasing Mo-content,
giving rise to superstructure domains. The dependency of the conductivity
with the oxygen and water partial pressure showed that these materials
are good mixed electron–proton conductors under wet reducing
conditions for x ≤ 0.4. The conductivity of
the materials with x ≥ 0.6 was dominated by
electrons, and they are expected to be less chemically stable due
to the lower redox stability of Mo6+. The total conductivities
in humidified H2 were 0.016 S/cm for x = 0.2 and 0.043 S/cm for x = 0.4 at 900 °C,
and they were stable under these conditions for more than 60 h. The
ambipolar proton–electron conductivity was estimated to be
∼1.6 × 10–3 S/cm for x = 0.4 at temperatures as low as 600 °C, which makes this family
of materials very interesting and competitive candidates for applications
such as hydrogen gas separation membranes at lower temperatures than
state-of-the-art materials.