Combustion synthesis of Y₂O₃ and Yb-Y₂O₃. Part I. Nanopowders and their characterization

Nanosized yttrium oxide and ytterbium doped yttrium oxide powders were prepared by ceramic combustion techniques such as flash combustion, citrate gel decomposition and glycine combustion using urea, citric acid and glycine respectively as fuels. As synthesized precursors and calcined powders were characterized for their structural, particle size and morphology, and the optimization of calcination process by differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetry. The thermal analyses together with XRD results demonstrate the effectiveness of the combustion process for the synthesis of pure phase nanocrystalline powders. Nanocrystalline pure yttria powders were obtained by the calcination of as-prepared precursors at 1100 °C for 4 h.