Effect of the ionic radius of stabilizing oxide cation on the local structure and transport properties of zirconia based solid solutions

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds Vol. 870; p. 159396
• Main Authors: Artemov, Sergey A., Borik, Mikhail A., Kulebyakin, Alexey V., Kuritsyna, Irina E., Larina, Nataliya A., Lomonova, Elena E., Myzina, Valentina A., Ryabochkina, Polina A., Tabachkova, Nataliya Yu, Volkova, Tatyana V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 25.07.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Cations; Coordination; Crystal structure; Ion currents; Ionic conducting materials; Ions; Lattice vacancies; Luminescence spectra; Oxygen; Potential energy; RE ion; Scandium oxides; Single crystals; Solid oxide fuel cells; Solid solutions; Solid solutions based on zirconia; Transport properties; Yttrium oxide; Zirconium dioxide; Solid solutions based on zirconia; Luminescence spectra; RE ion; Solid oxide fuel cells; Ionic conducting materials; Crystal structure
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2021.159396

•The local structure of ZrO2-Yb2O3-R2O3 (R-Y,Sc) was studied by optical spectroscopy.•The features of oxygen vacancies positions relative of Sc3+, Yb3+, Y3+ were revealed.•The dependence of transport properties on R3+ the ionic radius was revealed. Features of the local structure of ZrO2-Yb2O3, ZrO2-Y2O3-Yb2O3 and ZrO2-Sc2O3-Yb2O3 single crystals have been studied using optical spectroscopy. The probability of oxygen vacancies to occupy the first coordination shells of the Sc3+, Yb3+ and Y3+ stabilizing oxide cations has been shown to vary in the test solid solutions. Furthermore it has been shown that the probability of oxygen vacancies to occupy the first coordination shells of the Sc3+ ions is higher than their probability to occupy the first coordination shells of the Yb3+ and Y3+ ions. It has been shown that the transport properties of the ZrO2-Sc2O3-Yb2O3 and ZrO2-Y2O3-Yb2O3 solid solutions depend significantly on the ionic radii of the stabilizing oxide cations located in the first coordination shells of oxygen vacancies. For cations with small ionic radii (Sc3+, Yb3+) the height of the barrier which depends on the potential energy of the elastically deformed lattice is lower and the ionic conductivity is therefore higher.