Cation-driven electrical conductivity in Ta-doped orthorhombic zirconia ceramics

This paper is devoted to the study of the electrical conductivity of tantalum-doped zirconia ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering. In this study, the temperature dependence of conductivity in as-prepared specimens and in those previously annealed in air is determined and compared. A semi-empi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Moshtaghion, Bibi Malmal, Laguna Bercero, Miguel Ángel, Peña, José I., Gómez García, Diego, Domínguez Rodríguez, Arturo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/140726
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/140726
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.10.227
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Tantalum-doped zirconia
Spark plasma sintering
Cationic conductivity
Descripción
Sumario:This paper is devoted to the study of the electrical conductivity of tantalum-doped zirconia ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering. In this study, the temperature dependence of conductivity in as-prepared specimens and in those previously annealed in air is determined and compared. A semi-empirical model, which is based on the oxidation states of the cations, has been developed and successfully assessed. According to this, the conductivity is basically controlled by the diffusion of tetravalent zirconium cations in both cases, although the concentration of these species varies drastically with the amount of induced oxygen vacancies. This is a quite unexpected fact, since conductivity is normally controlled by anionic diffusion in zirconia ceramics. This option is forbidden here due to the presence of substitutional pentavalent cations. Therefore, conductivity values are much lower than those reported in trivalent or divalent substitutional cation doped zirconia ceramics.