Reduced activation energy for grain growth in nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia

Nanocrystalline (similar to15-20 nm) 3 mol % yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) powder is synthesized via sol-gel technique. A reduced activation energy value of similar to13.0 +/- 0.9 kJ/mol is observed for grain growth in nano-3YSZ powder, within the calcination temperature range of 400-1200 degreesC, which is much lower than that (580 kJ/mol) reported for submicron/micron-sized 3YSZ. This is attributed to large oxygen-ion vacancy concentration in nano-3YSZ.