Fabrication, structure refinement and EXAFS analysis of yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramics

• (Y1−xLax)2O3 transparent ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reaction.
• The crystal structural properties were first investigated by Rietveld refinement.
• The EXAFS dates were used to confirm the correctness of refinement results.

(Y1−xLax)2O3 (x = 0–0.125) transparent ceramics were fabricated by conventional ceramics processing and their structural properties were investigated. After the addition of La2O3, the ceramics display high transparency and dense structure without pores, the grain size decreases while the transmittance is enhanced. The crystal structural properties were investigated by Rietveld refinement and confirmed by EXAFS. The results show that (Y1−xLax)2O3 crystallize in space group of Ia3¯. As the content of La2O3 increases, the lattice parameters, the fractional coordinate x, y, z of O1 site and average bond lengths are increased because of the replacement of smaller Y3+ by larger La3+, the fractional coordinate x of Y2 site decreases gradually while that of Y1 site remains unchanged.