Electrical-field induced nonlinear conductive behavior in dense zirconia ceramic

The effect of the applied electric field on the conductive behavior of zirconia ceramics is studied by measuring its initial current-voltage curve at various temperatures. The results show that when the field strength is higher than the threshold for flash-sintering, the curves exhibit a nonlinear behavior by having an additional current on top of the linear current according to Ohms law. Analyzing its transport behavior reveals that the additional current density is due to the extra oxygen vacancies induced by the electric field. The formation rate of the extra vacancies and associated current was related to the field strength. (c) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.