Effect of novel bivalent mineralizers on the synthesis of nano-sized y ₂O₃ doped ZrO₂ powder by hydrothermal method

The nanosized ZrO₂ (3 Y) powders were prepared by hydrothermal method and the effects of the novel mineralizers were studied. It was found that the bivalent mineralizers tended to promote the formation of tetragonal phase and suppress the grain growth. The larger radius of the mineralizer's cation is also beneficial to the formation of tetragonal ZrO₂ (3Y). After optimizing the hydrothermal treatment conditions, single phase of tetragonal ZrO₂ (3Y) powders was synthesized. The powder was nearly free of hard-agglomeration and had a narrow particle size distribution with a mean crystal size of ∼ 5 nm.