Origin of fast oxide ion diffusion along grain boundaries in Sr-doped LaMnO₃

The prospect of significantly enhanced oxide ion diffusion along grain boundaries in Sr-doped LaMnO3 (LSM) was investigated by means of density functional theory calculations applied to a Σ5 (3 1 0)[0 0 1] grain boundary. The structure of the grain boundary was optimized by rigid body translation, and segregation energies were calculated for oxygen vacancies and Sr-acceptors. Two potentially fast diffusion paths were identified along the grain boundary core based on the interconnectivity between neighbouring sites with a strong tendency for segregation of oxygen vacancies. The migration barriers for these paths, obtained with the nudged elastic band method, amounted to about 0.6 eV. Based on the obtained migration barriers and concentrations of oxygen vacancies for the relevant core sites, the grain boundary diffusion coefficient was estimated to be enhanced by 3 to 5 orders of magnitude relative to the bulk in the temperature range 500-900 °C. Space-charge effects were determined to be quite insignificant for the transport properties of LSM grain boundaries.