Yttria stabilised zirconia is used as an oxide ion conductor in various applications such as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), solid oxide electrolyser cells (SOECs), sensors, and oxygen pumps, due to its high ionic conductivity and chemical stability at high temperatures. Ytterbia stabilised zirconia was reported to offer even higher ionic conductivity and could also demonstrate excellent chemical stability at high temperature if we take as a basis the  higher thermal cycling stability of ytterbia stabilised zirconia reported for the use  in thermal barrier coatings compared against yttria stabilised zirconia.
Ytterbia stabilised zirconia powders with range of 5.6 up to 10.1 mol% of ytterbium oxide were produced by fusing the oxides in an electric arc furnace. The ingots were crushed and milled and the obtained materials were milled to submicron particle size.
The powders were then analysed by XRF and ICP-OES for chemical purity and powder X-ray diffraction for phase composition. Further testing included the evaluation of the ceramic properties: Sintering curves were recorded with a dilatometer to identify the optimum sintering temperature. Disks were isostatically pressed, sintered, and tested for density, microstructure and grain size, and submitted for measurement of the oxide ion conductivity by impedance spectroscopy.
Conclusions will be drawn as to the use of ytterbia stabilised zirconia in electrolytes for SOFC/EC.