Ceramic membrane which is in an oxide ion conductor based on yttrium-stabilized zirconia

A ceramic membrane that is an oxide ion conductor comprising a non-zero volume, of non-zero total thickness E, of an assembly consisting of:

• (a) a dense layer, having opposed faces of areas S and S′ and having a non-zero thickness e, of a solid electrolyte having a crystal structure which is an oxide ion conductor;
• (b) two porous electrodes, which are hybrid conductors and have non-zero thicknesses e1 and e′1, coated on non-zero areas s1, and s′1, of the two opposed faces of areas S and S′ of the solid electrolyte;
• (c) two porous current collectors, of non-zero thickness e2 and e′2, coated on non-zero areas s2 and s′2, of the two porous electrodes;
• and
• (d) at least one porous covering layer, of non-zero thickness e3, coated on a non-zero area s3, of at least one of the collectors, made of a material or of a mixture of materials which is chemically compatible with the materials, or the mixture of the materials of the electrodes, the collectors, and the solid electrolyte, and the sintering temperature of which is very close to the sintering temperatures of the materials, or of the mixtures of materials, of which the electrodes, the collectors and the solid electrolyte are composed, and wherein,
• the thickness E of the membrane is equal to the sum of the thicknesses of each of the elements in (a)-(d),
• the electrodes, of identical or different compositions, made of a material or of a mixture of materials represented by the formula (I):
• M1M2O1 (I)
• in which M represents at least one of atoms chosen from La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Y, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba and M2 represents at least one of atoms chosen from Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn, and
• the covering layer, coated on at least one of the collectors, or the covering layers, of identical or different compositions, coated on each of the collectors, are compounds or mixtures of compounds of formula (I) as defined above chosen from the group consisting of lanthanum nickel oxide (LaNiO3), calcium lanthanum manganites (CauLavMnOw), lanthanum strontium manganites (LauSrvMnOw), lanthanum strontium cobaltites (LauSrvCoOw), calcium lanthanum cobaltites (CauLavCoOw), gadolinium strontium cobaltites (GduSrvCoOw), lanthanum strontium chromites (LauSrvCrOw), lanthanum strontium ferrites (LauSrvFeOw) and lanthanum strontium ferrocobaltites (LauSrvCOdFecOw), in which u+v and c+d are equal to 1 and is such that the covering layer is electrically neutral.