Defect Behaviour in Yttria-Stabilised Zirconia Nanomaterials Studied by Positron Annihilation Techniques

Abstract

Recent experimental and theoretical investigations on a variety of yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) nanomaterials are reviewed.Positron annihilation spectroscopy including the conventional positron lifetime (LT) and coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) techniques was employed as the main experimental tool. Slow positron implantation spectroscopy (SPIS) was used in investigation of commercial YSZ single crystals for reference purposes.

Extended state-of-art theoretical ab-initio calculations of positron response in the ZrO2 lattice were carried out for various vacancy-like defect configurations.

Keywords

• Yttria-stabilised zirconia
• Chromium doping
• Pressure-compacted nanopowders
• Sintered ceramics
• Positron lifetimes
• Coincidence Doppler broadening
• Slow positron implantation spectroscopy
• Theoretical ab-initio calculations of positron parameters