Synthesis of Nd:Y2O3 nanopowders leading to transparent ceramics

Neodymium doped yttrium precipitate precursor was synthesized employing ammonium hydrogen carbonate as precipitant and alcohol–water mixture as solvent via a normal strike co-precipitation route. Nd:Y2O3 powders were obtained after calcination. Several analytic techniques such as DTA-TG, FTIR, XRD, TEM, SEM and BET were used to make characterizations of the precursors, Nd:Y2O3 powders and sintered ceramics samples. The addition of alcohol in the co-precipitation process had an effect on the morphology of the as-synthesized precursor. The precursor was amorphous displaying messy needle-like shape while in the presence of alcohol, or else, displaying heavy agglomeration. The precursor was decomposed into cubic phase Y2O3 at about 700 °C without any other phase. Weakly agglomerated Nd:Y2O3 nanopowders were obtained from the precursor synthesized by addition of alcohol calcined at 1000 or 1100 °C for 3 h. The obtained Nd:Y2O3 nanopowders had mean particle size of 70 and 110 nm, respectively. The as-prepared Nd:Y2O3 nanopowders had high sinterability and the corresponding ceramics exhibited nice optical transparency after vacuum sintering.

► The addition of alcohol in the reaction system had an effect on the morphology of the obtained precursor and then influenced the final shape of the obtained powders after calcination.
► The break-up mechanism and combination-grow-up mechanism were found to be universal coexistence during the calcination process.
► The as-prepared nanopowders showed better sinterability and Nd:Y2O3 transparent ceramics were fabricated under vacuum sintering.