Patent ID: 6838119

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an ionic conductor to improve oxygen ion conductivity that is otherwise reduced by the presence of deleterious impurities comprising silicon, said method comprising: dissolving a salt of a dopant into solvent to form a solution, the dopant consisting of an alkaline-earth metal; applying the solution to an oxygen ion conducting material composed of doped ceria, doped zirconia, or doped lanthanum gallate and having said deleterious impurities, the oxygen ion conducting material being in a powder having particles of less than about 100 microns in size; the solution being applied such that a molar ratio of the dopant to total cations within said ionic conductor is between about 0.001 and about 0.1; mixing the solution and the particles so that the solution uniformly covers the particles; and heating the oxygen ion conducting material with the solution applied thereto to evaporate the solvent and to decompose the salt and thereby to form said ionic conductor.