Conductivity of zirconium oxide added with lithium

Polycrystalline samples of zirconia stabilized with 10% Y ₂ O ₃ (molar content) with additions of Li ₂ O up to 3% were synthesized by the solid-phase method. It was found that the conductivity of the samples significantly increases with the introduction of Li ₂ O and reaches a maximum at an additive content of 1.7%. The activation energy of conduction decreases from 0.85 eV in samples without additions of Li ₂ O to 0.56 eV in samples containing 1.7% Li ₂ O. It is assumed that lithium ions in the lattice of cubic ZrO ₂ form two types of defects: substitutional defects - Li _Zr ^3- and interstitial defects - Li _i ⁺ . The latter significantly increase the electrical conductivity of the samples. Il. 3, bibliography: 14 titles.