Industrial applications of partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) has increased substantially recently, considering its excellent thermal stability, strength and ionic conductibility. Its main application includes oxygen sensors and fuel cells. In this work zirconia ceramic powder is produced by Pechini process, mixing citric acid and ethylene glycol, adding yttrium and zirconium precursors. All the process was carried out with complete agitation. The obtained powder after this procedure is heat treated at 650°C during two hours. Characterization was performed by infra-red spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry and quantitative analysis by Rietveld Method. The results show tetragonal and monoclinic phases, with nanometric crystallite.

In this paper we propose the stabilization of zirconium oxide with controlled additions of a rare earth elements concentrate, in the system ZrO2: ƞ wt% Re2O3 (withƞ=5.36, 10.47, 13.74, 16.91 e 20) whereRe2O3is a rare earth elements concentrate composed mainly of 76.88% of yttrium oxide, 12.1% of Dysprosium oxide, 4.04% of Erbium oxide and 1.94% of Holmium oxide. The synthesis method used was the Pechini method. The results show that additions of 5.36 and 20 wt% of the concentrate are enough to stabilize the tetragonal and cubic zirconia phases respectively, and that zirconium oxide polymorphs can coexist with additions within these limit. In the characterization of the obtained powders are presented and discussed the following results: differential scanning calorimetry, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Also, it was necessary to make analysis by Rietveld refinement because they had severe overlap in the diffraction peaks. One of the most relevant results is obtaining a raw material, cheap to be used in many technological applications.

The zirconia in its cubic phase (C-ZrO2) has gained scientific and technological interest because it has high ionic conductivity and is useful in applications where the transport of oxygen ions prevails, for example, in the oxygen sensors and solid oxide fuel cells [1,. In the pure zirconia, the Zr4+ ion is too small to sustain the fluorite structure at low temperatures, so it has to be partially replaced by a higher atomic radius cation and lower valence number, for example, the Y3 +, Mg2 +, Ca2 + and the rare earth cations TR3 +, [. Currently there are several synthesis methods used to obtain cubic zirconia, the most popular being the mixture of oxides and coprecipitation used industrially in the research labs, but these methods provide powders with different characteristics which will be decisive for a specific application. In this context, the objective of this study was the preparation of homogeneous mixtures of zirconia-rare earth in different concentrations in order to stabilize the C-ZrO2, using the technique of heterogeneous coprecipitation for potential applications in oxygen sensors.

Oxygen ion conductors of zirconia based ceramics are a class of materials with technological applications in several application areas: sensors of chemical species, oxygen pumps, solid oxide fuel cells among others [1]. For these applications, the zirconia must possess the fluorite type crystal structure, or close to it. Such oxides with this structure are the classic oxygen ion conductors [2]. The fluorite structure consists of a cubic lattice of oxygen ions surrounded by cations. The cations are arranged in a face centered cubic structure with anions occupying tetrahedral positions. This leads to an open structure with large empty octahedral interstices.

Solid electrolytes based on stabilized zirconia have been studied a long time ago in its cubic phase because of its electrical properties, which make them excellent candidates to be used in applications such as oxygen sensors and solid oxide fuel cells [1], [2]. Lambda sensor or oxygen sensor, as it is also known, is a device that measures the oxygen concentration of the gases that flow through the exhaust pipe. Physically, the lambda sensor has two electrodes. The outer which is exposed to the exhaust gases and the inner to the air (reference) [3]; these electrodes are made, generally, of porous platinum. The ceramic material, i.e., zirconium oxide, is placed in between the electrodes, so the oxygen ions can move from one electrode to another. As one of the electrodes is exposed to the reference gas, the voltage generated is a measure of the concentration of oxygen in the exhaust gases [4].