Hajieh Bastami - Technical and Vocational University of Tehran, Faculty of Material Science and Engineering, Shariaty College, ۱۸۹۱۸-۱۶۸۵۱, Tehran, Iran
Ehsan Taheri Nasaj - Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Philippe F. Smet - LumiLab, Department of Solid State Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan ۲۸۱/S۱, B-۹۰۰۰ Ghent, Belgium & Center for Nano and Biophotonics (NB Photonics), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Dirk Poelman - LumiLab, Department of Solid State Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan ۲۸۱/S۱, B-۹۰۰۰ Ghent, Belgium & Center for Nano and Biophotonics (NB Photonics), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

The effect of samarium oxide was examined on the sintering, microstructure, and grain growth behaviors of (Co, Nb)-doped SnO2-based ceramics prepared by co-precipitation method. The sintered samples were studied through x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analyses. The microstructure observations revealed that the samples were near fully dense at a sintering temperature of 1200°C for 1h. The samarium doping prevented accelerated grain growth of the SnO2-based ceramic in the final stage of the sintering. The mean grain size of the SnO2-based ceramic without Sm2O3 doping was 2.70µm, which was reduced to 0.887µm for the sample doped with 0.05mol% Sm2O3. The grain size reduction of samples doped with Sm2O3 could be attributed to the segregation of Sm2O3 at the grain boundaries.

Samarium Oxide, Tin Oxide, Rare earth, Segregation, Sintering, Nanosized Materials