Abstract

Partially stabilized Y₂O₃–ZrO₂ (Y-PSZ) is often used as a material in the field of oxygen sensors and batteries. However, the presence of a tetragonal phase will seriously reduce the conductivity of Y-PSZ materials. As a sintering aid, Bi₂O₃ can be used to sinter materials with high oxygen ion conductivity at low temperatures. It is the first choice for the Y-PSZ doped system. A new microwave sintering technique prepared Bi₂O₃–Y-PSZ powders. The effects of doping amount of Bi₂O₃ on the microstructure, phase transition, and tetragonal phase content of Y-PSZ during sintering were researched. The results displayed that doping Bi₂O₃ improved the tetragonal phase content of the ZrO₂. The tetragonal phase content of the samples increased from 59.72% to 94.69% after sintering at 750 °C for 1 h. After doping Bi₂O₃, the aggregation of the samples reduced gradually, and the particles dispersed evenly. The average particle sizes of raw material and samples doped with different amounts of Bi₂O₃ were 0.0794 μm, 0.0638 μm, 0.0629 μm, 0.0794 μm, 0.1116 μm, respectively. Therefore, in the doping amount (1 mol%-4 mol%), the Bi₂O₃ doped Y-PSZ system with 2 mol% has the highest tetragonal phase content, the best dispersion, the smallest average particle size, and the most uniform particle distribution.