A versatile defect engineering strategy for room-temperature flash sintering
Angxuan Wu, Ziyang Yan, Xilin Wang, Zhiyang Yu, Rongxia Huang, Nianping Yan, Zhidong Jia
Abstract
Abstract In this study, we reported that flash sintering (FS) could be efficiently triggered at room temperature (25 °C) by manipulating the oxygen concentration within ZnO powders via a versatile defect engineering strategy, fully demonstrating a promising method for the repaid prototyping of ceramics. With a low concentration of oxygen defects, FS was only activated at a high onset electric field of ∼2.7 kV/cm, while arcs appearing on the surfaces of samples. Strikingly, the onset electric field was decreased to < 0.51 kV/cm for the activation of FS initiated, which was associated with increased oxygen concentrations coupled with increased electrical conductivity. Thereby, a general room-temperature FS strategy by introducing intrinsic structural defect is suggested for a broad range of ceramics that are prone to form high concentration of point defects.