To lower the calcining and sintering temperatures of 16 at% Y-doped BaZrO 3 (BYZ), Gd-doped BaCeO 3 (BGC) and Smdoped BaCeO 3 (BSC), nanopowders of BaCO 3 and either (i) yttria stabilized zirconia, (ii) Gd 2 O 3 and CeO 2 or (iii) Sm 2 O 3 and CeO 2 , were used as starting materials, respectively. BYZ powders were prepared by two mixing methods (i.e. ball milling and magnetic stirring), followed by calcination at 1050-1250 o C, while BSC and BGC powders were prepared by ball milling and calcined at 1050 o C. The results reveal that the ball milling and magnetic stirring methods yield similar results for BYZ powder preparation. By adding 1 wt% ZnO nanopowder, the average relative densities of BYZ pellets were increased from ∼70% to ∼96% at the sintering temperatures of 1300 o C. Thus, with the utilization of nanopowders and ZnO as a sintering aid, the calcining and sintering temperatures were lowered to 1050 o C and 1300 o C, respectively, while still attaining the relative bulk densities of both BYZ and BGC higher than 95.7%. However, since the relative bulk density of BSC reached only 93% even sintered at 1400 o C, ZnO was not an effective sintering aid for the BSC fabrication.