To realize a trivalent ion conduction in solids, the Sc
2(WO
4)
3-type structure was chosenon the basis of the mobile trivalent ions and the structure which reduces the electrostaticinteraction between the framework and the mobile trivalent ionic species as much as possible.The typical conductivity of the rare earth tungstates R
2(WO
4)
3 (R = Sc, Y, and Er-Lu) withthe Sc
2(WO
4)
3-type structure was found to be on the order of 10
-5 S cm
-1 at 600
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C. Amongthe rare earth tungstates, Sc
2(WO
4)
3 (
600
C = 6.5 × 10
-5 S cm
-1,
Ea = 44.1 kJ mol
-1) wasfound to be the most suitable size for the ionic conduction with regard to the relation betweenthe mobile ion radius and the lattice size. The rare earth ion conducting characteristicswere investigated by means of the rare earth concentration cell measurements and dcelectrolyses. The electromotive force measurements with the Sc-Y binary alloy and theyttrium tungsten bronze as the electrodes strongly suggest the possibility of the trivalention conduction of rare earths such as Sc
3+ and Y
3+. Furthermore, by the dc electrolysis, themobile species was clarified to be the rare earth ions Sc
3+ and Y
3+ in the rare earth tungstateswith the Sc
2(WO
4)
3-type structure.