Low temperature preparation of stabilized zirconia

The preparation of stabilized zirconia by thermal decomposition of metal alkoxides is reported. Formation of stabilized zirconia takes place at 400° C. The a.c. conductivity of the samples has been measured from 400 to 1000° C. The best conductivity is found in ZrO2doped with 15 per cent CaO, which at 400° C is 2.37×10−6 Ω−1 cm−1 and at 1000° C is 1.26×10−2 Ω−1 cm−1, with an activation energy of 1.16eV. Transport number measurements show that stabilized zirconia prepared by this method is purely an oxygen ion conductor