EFFECT OF SILICA PORE STRUCTURE ON THE CONDUCTION BEHAVIOR OF CSHSO4 SIO2 COMPOSITE PROTON ELECTROLYTES/

The transport properties of high-conductivity composite proton electro lytes (CsHSO4)(1-x)/(SiO2)(x) were studied in the range x = 0-0.8. The composites were prepared using silica powders with various specific s urface areas (S = 100-580 m(2)/g) and porosities (V-pore = 10(-6) m(3) /g, R-pore 14-1000 Angstrom). The low-temperature conductivity was dem onstrated to depend on the material composition: at the optimum silica content, x = 0.5-0.7, it was 2-2.5 orders of magnitude higher than th at of the host CsHSO4 electrolyte. The low-temperature conductivity wa s dependent on the mean pore size of SiO2 and showed the maximum incre ase at pore sizes from 35 to 100 Angstrom.