Effect of platinum on sintering morphology of porous YSZ ceramics

Platinum/yttria-stabilized zirconia (Pt/YSZ) porous ceramics were prepared by sintering of the Pt/PMMA/YSZ stripe-like membrane with a porogen of spherical polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and a precursor of platinum (Pt) of chloroplatinic acid. The microstructure of raw and processed material and Pt/ZrO₂ calcination process at different sintering temperatures were investigated. The results showed that the spherically porous structure of Pt/YSZ was observed at a sintering temperature below 400 °C due to the thermal decomposition of PMMA. However, the pores were shrunk about 35% in diameter when YSZ compacts were sintered at the temperature of 1,450 °C. In addition, the spherical pores can be retained in the compacts when the content of Pt <5% and then gradually merged into changing when the content of Pt increased to 50%. The relative density was increased from 42% to 90% and the open porosity was decreased from 60% to 10% when Pt was added with content from 5% to 80%. The change of microstructure for Pt/YSZ is due to the migration of Pt and YSZ in the composites. The preferential migration and coalescence proceeded for Pt in Pt/YSZ is about 500 °C and YSZ clusters can keep stable until up to 900 °C. However, the growth of YSZ particle in the sintering process was hindered by the scattering of Pt phase.