Synthesis of Yttria-stabilized Zirconia Powder Doped with Couple Doping of Cerium Oxide and Nickel Oxide by Sol-gel Method

This study examined the powder synthesis characteristics of nickel and cerium oxide dopants together into yttria stabilized zirconia. A polymeric sol-gel (pechini) process has been used for preparation of nanocrystalline powder. This route has the ability to provide homogeneous products with high purity and activity. The starting materials used in this investigation werezirconium tetrachloride, yttrium nitrate, cerium nitrate and nickel nitrate. The samples (gels) after drying at 140 °C during a night (24 h), were calcined at 900 °C for 2 h. DTA-TG, XRD, SEM and TEM analyses are used respectively to investigate the phase formation temperature of nano powders, distinct the phases and investigate the microstructures. The results of thermal analysisconfirm the range of phase formation temperature that obtained from XRD analysis. Ni/Ce-YSZ powder with the mean crystallite size of 11 nm was calculated by Scherrer equation. Based on the SEM and TEM analyses, spherical morphology has been reported.