Synthesis and thermal properties of europium zirconate and hafnate via solid state reaction and polymerized complex method

The paper presents the study on synthesis and thermal diffusivity of europium zirconate. Both materials were synthesized using two methods: conventional solid-state reaction (SSR) and polymerized-complex method (PCM). Thermal analysis of constituent oxides, their mixture and synthesized organic precursor was conducted. Structural characterization included analysis of morphology, chemical composition and phase composition, both for powders and sinters. Thermal diffusivity was measured in the temperature range from 25 to 700 °C. The materials obtained via chemical synthesis exhibited much better structural homogeneity. Eu2Zr2O7 has ca. 23% lower thermal diffusivity than Eu2Hf2O7, regardless of synthesis method. There was also noticeable difference in measured thermal diffusivity depending on synthesis method which could be possibly attributed to the presence of non-stoichiometric phases.