Preparation and Characterization of Unique Foamy Zirconia Single Crystals via Sol-Gel-Hydrothermal Method

Porous ZrO2 single crystals were prepared through a sol-gel-hydrothermal method and characterized by XRD, HR-TEM, SEM and FT-IR. The results show that the dried sol gel was converted into monoclinic zirconia crystals after calcined above 550 °C. The zirconia single crystal has a porous structure with the crystal sizes of 20-70 nm. The origin of the pores was the gaseous hydrolysates of the superstoichiometric urotropine. The gel structure and the hydrothermal treatment are the required conditions resulting in the pores in crystals. After sintered at 1400 °C, the disc of the obtained ZrO2 crystals was dense. However, Y2O3 should be added to avoid fracture due to phase change if the disc was used as heat insulating layer.