Electrical properties of ultrafine-grained yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics

Nanoparticles of yttria-doped tetragonal zirconia polycrystalline ceramics (Y-TZP) with an average crystallite size of less than 9 nm were prepared by a combustion synthesis process. Dense and fine-grained (<200 nm) Y-TZP ceramics were obtained by fast-firing using temperatures lower than 1400 °C and dwell times of less than 2 min. Impedance spectroscopy was employed to measure conductivities of oxygen vacancies in the grain and the grain boundary of the fine-grained Y-TZP. The relationships between the concentration of the oxygen vacancies in the grain boundary and measurable physical parameters were determined semiquantitatively. The oxygen vacancy concentrations and activation energies for the oxygen-ion conduction in the grain and the grain boundary of the fine-grained Y-TZP were found to be independent of the average grain size in the average grain-size range of 90–200 nm. These experimental results suggest that, in order to retain the abnormally high oxygen vacancy concentrations of the Y-TZP nanoparticles and thus enhance the oxygen-ion conductivity, it may be necessary to decrease the average grain size to approximately 10 nm.