Preparation and characterization of doped sol–gel zirconia films

Highly oriented CeO2-, Y2O3- and MgO-doped ZrO2 thin films have been successfully prepared by a sol-gel process by dip-coating an ethanol solution of zirconium oxychloride octahydrate and the corresponding inorganic dopants. The doped ZrO2 films contain only the zirconia tetragonal phase and show nano-scale morphology. Under low load, doped ZrO2 films sliding against a AISI 52100 steel ball display a good wear and friction performance. Best results have been obtained with the 13 mol% CeO2- doped ZrO2 film, which exhibits a friction coefficient as low as 0.22 and a wear-life over 5000 sliding cycles under 1 N load.