Doping of lithium (Li
. INTRODUCTIONInterest in nanocrystalline zirconia (ZrO 2 ) ceramics, of average diameter in the 2-100 nm range, has increased during recent years, because of their properties (e.g., sintering ability, mechanical toughness, superplastic behaviour) are significantly different from those in a coarse grained structure [1][2][3][4] . At atmospheric pressure, pure ZrO 2 exists in three well known polymorphs of P2 1/c monoclinic (m), P4 2/nmc tetragonal (t), and F m3m cubic fluorite (c) crystal structures, where m-ZrO 2 is the equilibrium bulk structure at low temperatures. 9 . A reconstructive decomposition follows on heating the polymer gel (dried and pulverised into a powder) in air, forming a refined Li+: t-ZrO 2 powder at temperatures as low as 500-600 °C.