Effect of Preparation Method and Ni2+ Substitution on the Structural, Thermal, and Optical Properties of Nanocrystalline Lanthanum Zirconate Pyrochlore

In order to establish the effective application of materials in a particular area, it is important to first investigate the physical and chemical properties, such as the crystallinity, structure, and the optical and surface properties. The objective of the present study is to fabricate thermally stable pyrochlore oxides, namely, lanthanum zirconate (La2Zr2O7, LZ) and Ni-doped lanthanum zirconate (La2Zr1.5Ni0.5O7, LZN) by the solid-state and sol-gel methods. The effects of the preparation and substitution of Zr4+ by Ni2+ for the resulting nanocrystalline samples were characterized in terms of structure, purity, porosity, the thermal and optical properties, and photoluminescence by different techniques: XRD, FT-IR, BET, EDS, TG-DTG, UV-Vis-DRS, and PL. The XRD results confirm that the pyrochlores prepared via the sol-gel method (LZ-sg and LZN-sg) had a cubic unit-cell lattice, whereas the solid-state method (LZ-s and LZN-s) had impurities of the oxides. The XRD patterns, LZ-sg and LZN-sg, were further treated with the Rietveld technique. The textural measurements reveal that LZ-sg had a higher BET surface area compared to LZN-sg. In addition, the substitution of Zr4+ by the Ni2+ ion provides rational evidence for the improvement in the oxygen mobility, as well as the optical and photoluminescence properties through the lowering of the optical band energy and the electron–hole pairs.

The Effects on Thermal Efficiency of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia and Lanthanum Zirconate-based Thermal Barrier Coatings on Aluminum Heating Block for 3d Printer

Fused filament fabrication is an important additive manufacturing method, for which 3D printers are the most commonly used printing tools. In this method, there are many factors that affect the printing quality, chief among which is temperature. The fusion temperature of the material is created by an aluminum heating block in the extruder. Stability and a constant temperature for the aluminum heating block are inevitable requirements for print quality. This study aims to use the thermal barrier coating method to increase the thermal efficiency and stability of the aluminum heating block by reducing heat loss. Furthermore, it aims to perform steady-state thermal analysis using finite element analysis software. The analyses are carried out in stagnant air environment and at the printing temperature of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material. In order to examine the effects of different coating materials, blocks coated with two different coating materials, as well as uncoated blocks, were used in the analyses. The coating made with yttria-stabilized zirconia and pyrochlore-type lanthanum zirconate materials, together with the NiCRAl bond layer, prevent temperature fluctuation by preventing heat loss. The effects of the coating method on average heat flux density, temperature distribution of blocks, and temperature distribution of the filament tube hole were investigated. Additionally, changes in flow velocity were determined by examining the effects of the thermal barrier coating method on temperature distribution. The average heat flux density in the coated blocks decreased by 10.258%. Throughout the investigation, the temperature distributions in the coated blocks became homogeneous. It was also observed that both coating materials produce the same effect. This article performs a steady-state thermal analysis of a conventional model and thermal-barrier-coated models to increase print quality by reducing heat loss from the aluminum heating block.

Spray Flame Synthesis (SFS) of Lithium Lanthanum Zirconate (LLZO) Solid Electrolyte

A spray-flame reaction step followed by a short 1-h sintering step under O2 atmosphere was used to synthesize nanocrystalline cubic Al-doped Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO). The as-synthesized nanoparticles from spray-flame synthesis consisted of the crystalline La2Zr2O7 (LZO) pyrochlore phase while Li was present on the nanoparticles’ surface as amorphous carbonate. However, a short annealing step was sufficient to obtain phase pure cubic LLZO. To investigate whether the initial mixing of all cations is mandatory for synthesizing nanoparticulate cubic LLZO, we also synthesized Li free LZO and subsequently added different solid Li precursors before the annealing step. The resulting materials were all tetragonal LLZO (I41/acd) instead of the intended cubic phase, suggesting that an intimate intermixing of the Li precursor during the spray-flame synthesis is mandatory to form a nanoscale product. Based on these results, we propose a model to describe the spray-flame based synthesis process, considering the precipitation of LZO and the subsequent condensation of lithium carbonate on the particles’ surface.