Solid electrolyte

A solid electrolyte carries electric current through mobile ions while remaining a solid. The distinction between ionic and electronic electrical conductivity matters: different charge carriers serve different roles in electrochemistry.

Zirconia stabilized by addition of yttria. At suitable elevated temperatures, oxygen vacancies allow oxide-ion transport, making the material useful in an oxygen concentration cell. Its oxide-ion transference number must remain sufficiently close to one for a simple ionic Nernst equation interpretation.

A solid with unusually rapid ionic motion while its host framework remains ordered.