Low temperature synthesis process of stabilization of cubic yttria stabilized zirconia spindles: an important high temperature ceramic material

Abstract

Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is one of the promising materials for thermal barrier coating. In the present study, YSZ nanostructures have been synthesized in presence of a nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) at low temperature (120 °C) using hydrothermal route. Our key observation is ‘Zirconia’ forms as spherical particles while ‘Yttria’ prefers the rod-like morphology in the presence of Triton X-100. Doping Yttria in zirconia up to 3 mol % (3YSZ), leads to the formation of rod-shaped Yttria (length = 100 nm, width = 25 nm) decorated with zirconia nanoparticles. However, increasing dopant concentration to 8 mol %, spindle shaped-particles (tip = 2 nm, width = 42 nm, length = 100 nm) were observed for the first time. These yttria doped zirconia show good thermal stability up to1200 °C (weight loss ~6–12%) without any secondary phase formation.Highlights • Cubic Yttria stabilized zirconia were synthesized at low temperature by hydrothermal route • Thermal stability of 8YSZ shows 5.5% weight loss only up to 1200 °C. • Doping of Yttria in zirconia leads to change in the morphology of the product. • Yttria prefers formation of the anisotropic shape of the product.