Synthesis and rietveld refinement study of calcium doped zirconia

Zirconia (ZrO2) has a unique property of changing the crystalline phase from monoclinic to cubic at a higher temperature. This leads to its versatile applications in the fields of nuclear reactors, oxygen detectors, solid oxide fuel cells etc. Yttria doped zirconia has been studied extensively for transformation and stabilization of its cubic phase at room temperature. Whereas, the reports on such accounts with calcium doping are rare. In present study, the crystalline structure of Ca-doped zirconia (8 mol % Ca) as prepared by the solid-state reaction technique and sintered at 1000 °C in air, is compared with that of pure zirconia. From the X-ray diffractometer patterns recorded in θ-2θ geometry, it is evident that the pure zirconia exists only in the monoclinic phase. Further, the XRD of Ca-doped zirconia and its Rietveld refinement revealed the stabilization of zirconia in the monoclinic and cubic phase. The cubic phase stabilization in zirconia at room temperature with calcium doping opened up the possibilities of tailoring its properties more precisely via ion implantation.