Grain size-dependent electrical properties of rutile (TiO2)

Electrical conductivity enhancement in nanocrystalline (RE2O3)0.08(ZrO2)0.92 (RE=Sc, Y) thin films

“…The enhanced specific grain boundary conductivity can be interpreted in terms of the decrease in the level of impurities such as SiO 2 segregating to the grain boundaries as suggested by Aoki et al 15 Similar enhancements were observed in nanocrystalline 8YZr 2 and SrCe 0.95 Yb 0.05 O 3 ͑Ref. 16͒ thin films, nanocrystalline CeO 2 , 17 (Y 2 O 3 ) x (ZrO 2 ) 1Ϫx (xϭ0.017, 0.029͒, 18 TiO 2 , 19 and microcrystalline ͑CaO͒ 0.15 ͑ZrO 2 ͒ 0.85 . 15 As reviewed by Tuller, 1 evidence in support of enhanced ionic conduction in nanocrystalline materials has been confused to date, it hence it remains too early for us to draw firm conclusions.…”

A comparison of the transport properties of lithium-stuffed garnets and the conventional phases Li3Ln3Te2O12

“…The pellets of Li 6 CaLa 2 Sb 2 O 12 used for transport measurements were sintered at 600 1C in order to minimise any structural changes from the samples used for structural studies and this use of a lower temperature is likely to limit particle growth and hence increase the impact of grain boundary resistance on the total conductivity. It is likely that different processing techniques, such as hot-pressing [21], could be used to reduce the microstructural contribution to the total resistivity in this instance. However, the minimal contribution of the intra-grain conductivity reported for many of the garnets suggests that there is little scope for optimising the properties of these samples by adjusting the processing conditions.…”

Ion Dynamics at Interfaces: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies

“…Generally, solids with an average particle diameter of typically less than 50 nm often show new mechanical, [33][34][35][36] electrical, [37][38][39][40][41] magnetic, [42][43][44][45][46][47] optical, [48][49][50][51][52] catalytic, 53,54 and/or thermodynamic [55][56][57] features. In single-phase ionic conducting nanocrystalline ceramics, an enhancement of the diffusivity of small cations and anions such as Li + and F − , or even larger anions, such as O 2− , is often observed.…”