@article{Su2024, 
author = {Xinghua Su and Wenjin Li and Da Chen and Shuai Zhang and Chengguang Lou and Qiang Tian and Jianguo Zhao and Peng Zhao},
title = {Rapid fabrication of oxygen-deficient zirconia by flash sintering treatment},
year = {2024},
journal = {Journal of Advanced Ceramics},
volume = {13},
number = {11},
pages = {1881-1890},
keywords = {oxygen vacancy, zirconia, optical absorption, electrochemical reduction, flash sintering treatment},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/JAC.2024.9220976},
doi = {10.26599/JAC.2024.9220976},
abstract = {The introduction of oxygen vacancies into zirconia is an effective strategy for enhancing its light absorption ability and photocatalytic performance. However, the cost-efficient preparation of oxygen-deficient zirconia (ZrO2−x) remains challenging, which severely limits its broad application. In this study, flash sintering treatment was used to fabricate ZrO2−x bulk in very short time of 90 s. Oxygen vacancies were introduced into ZrO2 bulk through electrochemical reduction reactions. The as-prepared black ZrO2−x exhibited excellent optical absorption capability, a small band gap (2.09 eV for direct and 1.67 eV for indirect), and a reduced conduction band energy, which is ascribed to the generation of oxygen vacancies and reduction of Zr cations. The as-prepared ZrO2−x showed remarkable photocatalytic activity due to excellent solar light absorption and low recombination rate of electron‒hole pairs. Flash sintering treatment provides a cost-efficient approach for rapidly fabricating ZrO2−x bulk materials with high concentrations of oxygen vacancies, which can also be applied to other materials.}
}