Ke. Swider et Wl. Worrell, ELECTRON-PARAMAGNETIC-RESONANCE OF TITANIUM IMPURITIES IN REDUCED YTTRIA-STABILIZED ZIRCONIA, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 78(4), 1995, pp. 961-964
The electronic defects in single crystals of yttria-stabilized zirconi
a (YSZ) have been examined using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
. The EPR spectra of hydrogen-reduced YSZ single crystals are almost i
dentical to those of polycrytstalline yttria (12 mol%)-stabilized zirc
onia-titania, indicating that the Ti3+ cation is the predominant elect
ronic defect in both materials. The disparity between the discoloratio
n of the polycrystals and single crystals (blue vs yellow) is attribut
ed to the different crystalline environments of the Ti3+ cations in th
e grain boundaries and lattice. The concentration of titanium cations
in the YSZ single crystals (ca. 600 ppm) is probably too dilute to con
tribute to the electronic conductivity.