Synthesis of lithium-doped zirconia nanoceramics of controlled oxygen vacancies

Doping of lithium (Li⁺) cations results in stabilised zirconia, especially in tetragonal (t) crystal structure, i.e., Li⁺: t-ZrO₂. It is useful to vary oxygen vacancies in Li⁺: ZrO₂ powders. The Li⁺: t-ZrO₂ powder having 1–5 mol per cent Li⁺, are obtained by using a novel chemical method of a polymer precursor, which consists of Li⁺ and Zr⁴⁺ cations capping in polymer molecules of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and sucrose. The results are analysed in terms of XRD and microstructure of Li⁺: t-ZrO₂ powders prepared under specific conditions of heating the precursor in air at elevated temperatures. The polymer precursor consists of fibrils of average 120 m length and 0.5–1.0 m dia. A refined Li⁺: t-ZrO₂ powder (15–25 nm crystallite size) occurs after heating the precursor at 500–600°C for 2 h in air.