Stabilization of tetragonal phase in ZrO2:Eu by rapid thermal heating

Europium-doped Zr(OH)4 nanoparticles are heated via furnace and pyroprobe. As observed in X-ray diffraction and optical fluorescence spectroscopy, both heating techniques lead to mixed tetragonal and monoclinic crystalline ZrO2 phases. Three hours of heating in the furnace leads to 45% tetragonal phase at 400 °C and only 14% at 700 °C. Rapid 10 s heating in the pyroprobe, however, leads up to 68% tetragonal phase for temperatures between 570 and 710 °C. Incomplete dehydroxylation of the precursor may lead to the stabilization of the tetragonal phase.