Credit: Image courtesy Jeff Eastman/Nature.
This picture shows a new system designed by Argonne researchers consisting of indium oxide and yttria-stabilized zirconia layers. They found that when they applied a small electric field in a horizontal direction, between the “+” and “-“ regions, some oxygen vacancies move vertically from the yttria-stabilized zirconia into the indium oxide. This causes its electrical conductivity to increase substantially and could be useful in electronics or catalyst applications. Zirconium ions are shown in green, oxygen ions are red, and indium ions are silver.