Microstructure, phase composition, and gas-sensing properties of nanostructured ZrO2-xY2O3 thin films and powders obtained by the sol-gel method

With the use of sol-gel technology, we obtained ZrO2-xY(2)O(3) powders and thin films (where ?=0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 33, 40, 50mol%) that are promising for the creation of chemical gas sensors. The phase composition was studied using XRD and Raman spectroscopy. It has been shown that an increase in the content of yttrium oxide from 0 to 50mol% entails phase changes in the structure of zirconium dioxidefrom the monoclinic phase (ZrO2) to metastable tetragonal (up to 10% of Y2O3), cubic (up to 20% of Y2O3), and rhombohedral (up to 50% of Y2O3) phases. For thin films, gas-sensing properties were studied: we established a resistive response to oxygen at low operating temperatures of 350-450 degrees C that increased with an increase in the Y2O3 content in the crystal lattice. Films with a Y2O3 content of more than 33mol% showed a resistive response to hydrogen.