Electrical behavior of nickel coated YSZ cermet prepared by electroless coating technique

Nickel–yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni/YSZ) cermet has been prepared by coating YSZ particles with metallic nickel using electroless coating technique. Concentration of nickel was varied between 7.23 and 64.99 wt%. Bulk samples were prepared using these nickel coated YSZ powders by uniaxial pressing followed by sintering in the temperature range 1200–1350 °C with a soaking time of 2–6 h. A thorough investigation on the electrical characteristics of the samples has been performed and an attempt has been made to study the effect of starting YSZ particle size, matrix density on the temperature dependence of conductivity of the cermet. Samples prepared by this technique shows metallic conductivity at a Ni concentration as low as 27.04 wt%. A detailed microstructural investigation of the samples is also reported.