The action of water vapor on nominally pure BaCeO3 perovskite at 850 K
causes hydrogen to be incorporated into the lattice and a thermally m
etastable state to form. The lattice symmetry changes as a result of a
n orthorhombic-pseudocubic transition which takes place at a temperatu
re substantially lower than the known thermally initiated rhombohedral
-cubic transition at 1173 K. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.