Mixed electronic and oxide ionic conduction and migration mechanisms in digermanate La<subscript>2−x</subscript>Ca<subscript>x</subscript>Ge<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>7−x/2</subscript>.

Mixed electronic and oxide ionic conduction was enabled in digermanate-type La2−xCaxGe2O7−x/2 containing Ge3O10 chains and isolated GeO4 units by substitution of La3+ with Ca2+. The structure and solid solution limit of Ca doped La2Ge2O7 were studied by systematic experiments, including rotation electron diffraction (RED), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and neutron powder diffraction (NPD) experiments, etc. The preferred occupation of Ca2+ and oxygen vacancies was investigated by Rietveld analysis of the NPD data. The obtained conducting material La1.925Ca0.075Ge2O6.963 exhibits superior thermal stability and an order of magnitude improvement in conductivity compared to the parent La2Ge2O7 (∼9 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 1000 °C). BVEL calculations reveal that the oxygen vacancies were stabilized and transported within the framework of La2Ge2O7 by sharing oxygen and oxygen exchange between the adjacent Ge3O10 chains and GeO4 units, exhibiting a three-dimensional oxide ion transport nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]