Preparation of 15 mol% YO1.5-doped ThO2 disk electrolytes by a polymeric gel-combustion method

Abstract A hybrid of polymeric gel and auto-combustion techniques was adapted for the synthesis and lower temperature sintering of 15 mol% YO 1.5 -doped thoria (15 YDT) homogeneous solid solutions at 1350°C. The YDT discs so prepared were of density better than 99% theoretical and the cubic cell parameter was a o =558.15(±0.13) pm in close agreement with 557.8 pm recently reported as high quality data in JCPDS confirming the validity of the anion vacancy model for Th 0.85 Y 0.15 O 1.925 .