Chalmers: Possible new applications for perovskites

Research lead

A researcher at Chalmers University of Technology has proposed new uses for perovskites and highlighted members of this class of materials that offer advantageous properties in existing application areas.

Perovskites are a class of materials whose structures consist of alkaline earth metals such as calcium, linked to transition metals such as iron, with a third component, usually oxygen, that bonds to both. These structures are very flexible, and perovskites can exhibit different properties depending on their environment. They are easy to manufacture, and by varying the structure, new functions can be created.

The research shows that perovskites could be of use in three key application areas; fuel cells, gas separation prior to the storage of carbon dioxide and nanocomponents in electronic products. The researcher, Annika Eriksson, has studied the link between these functions and the structure of perovskites.

For example, existing fuel cells have a working temperature of between 800 to1000°C, limiting their area of use and requiring a great deal of energy to heat up.

“One aim is to be able to reduce the working temperature to a more manageable level in the range 300-600°C,” says Sten Eriksson, who supervised the research. “We also hope that new perovskites can offer a longer lifespan and better conductive capacity for ions and electrons in fuel cells.”

Perovskites conduct oxygen effectively, meaning they can be used in membranes for the separation of oxygen from other gases.  It is proposed such membranes could be used to separate out oxygen before carbon dioxide is stored in carbon sinks that are under study as part of the solution to global warming.

Eriksson also examined a group of perovskites that are spontaneously polarisable in an electric field and at the same time have magnetic properties. Materials of this kind are important in nanoelectronics as they can combine polarised and magnetic effects in one circuit.