The oxygen permeation fluxes from p O 2 Ј to p O 2 Љ (p O 2 Ј Ͼ p O 2 Љ ) across cobalt-containing perovskite ceramic membranes La 1Ϫx Sr x CoO 3Ϫ␦ and SrCo 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3Ϫ␦ were measured by gas chromatography as functions of oxygen chemical potential gradient, temperature, thickness, and catalytic activity on the surface. Power indexes 0.5 Ͼ n Ͼ 0 for uncatalyzed La 1Ϫx Sr x CoO 3Ϫ␦ and 1 Ͼ n Ͼ 0.5 for SrCo 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3Ϫ␦ were obtained when J O 2 vs. p O 2 Ј n Ϫ p O 2 Љ n was plotted as a straight line. The results clearly indicate an overall permeation process controlled by both surface oxygen exchange and bulk oxygen diffusion for uncatalyzed La 1Ϫx Sr x CoO 3Ϫ␦ and SrCo 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3Ϫ␦ . Application of a thin layer of catalytically active SrCo 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3Ϫ␦ on the feeding-gas surface of La 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3Ϫ␦ under the condition of a fixed p O 2 Ј ϭ0.21 atm and a varied p O 2 Љ not only increases remarkably the overall oxygen flux, but also changes a mixed control to a bulk diffusion control. This enables evaluation of the bulk transport properties of the mixed conductors. A coat of SrCo 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3Ϫ␦ on the permeate side has little catalytic effect, especially at low p O 2
Љrange, due to the formation of a poorly conducting brownmillerite phase. The results explicitly show a higher activation energy for the surface exchange kinetics than for the ambipolar transport in the mixed conductors. The mechanism of the surface exchange is discussed, and an analytic expression that agrees well with the experimental results is obtained.