A novel strategy for the preparation of yttria-stabilized zirconia powders: Deposition and scratching of thin films obtained by the sol–gel method

In the present work, an alternative to the traditional sol–gel method is reported. The gel is deposited on a wide flat glassy surface so that a very thin film of solid is obtained after evaporation of the solvent. The yttria-stabilized zirconia powders are recovered by removing the referred film from the glassy surface and subsequent milling. The samples have been characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption at −196 °C and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The experimental results show that the 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) powders prepared by drying of thin films at 100 °C exhibit extremely low values of specific surface area and pore volumes. Furthermore, the proportion of solvent or the type of alcohol used in the preparation of the powders play a very important role in the textural properties of the 3YSZ powders. In this connection, for samples prepared by varying the propanol proportion an increase in the volume of this solvent leads to larger values of specific surface area and pore volumes. On the other hand, an increase in the molecular size of the alcohol used as the solvent leads to a noticeable development of the textural parameters.