Crystal growth dynamics and structural characterization of re-doped Y2Zr2O7 nanocrystals

The aim is to explore a novel and controllable method to fabricate Re-doped Y2Zr2O7 nano solid solutions. The XRD results indicated that the Y ion can be replaced by other trivalent rare earth ion such as La, Nd, Sm, Dy and Er and the crystal form of Y2Zr2O7 remained unchanged. The crystal growth dynamics during calcinations via polymer precursor method were studied and the activation energy of crystal growth was calculated. TEM results indicated the obtained particles were spherical-like in the size of 30-50 nm with the uniform size distribution. The UV-vis absorption spectra of YNdZr2O7 precursor calcined at different temperatures were investigated. It can be seen that the crystal size has an effect on the absorbance. The band gap of YNdZr2O7 precursor calcined at different temperatures was in the range of 3.24 similar to 3.56eV. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.