Effect of calcination temperature on morphology of mesoporous YSZ

A nano-structured mesoporous yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders were prepared for the first time using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the surfactant and urea as the hydrolyzing agent and using ZrO(NO3)·6H2O and Y(NO3)3·6H2O as inorganic precursors. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, Barrett–Joyner–Halender (BJH) pore size distribution and crystallite/particle size of mesoporous YSZ varied with calcine temperatures were studied. Characterizations revealed that the mesoporous YSZ powder calcined at 600 °C was weakly agglomerated and had a high surface area of 137 m2/g with an average grain size of ∼5.8 nm. It was demonstrated that the mesoporous structure remained up to 900 °C. The low-densified YSZ sample with porosity as high as 33% was prepared from mesoporous YSZ powder sintered at 1500 °C for 6 h.