Comparative X-ray diffraction study of the crystalline microstructure of tetragonal and monoclinic vanadium–zirconium dioxide solid solutions produced from gel precursors

Thermal treatment of gel precursors with initial compositions V_xZr_1−xO₂ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1), with a final annealing temperature of 723 or 1573 K, resulted in a major tetragonal or pure monoclinic zirconia phase. Each pure or vanadium-doped zirconia specimen is characterized by a prevalent crystallite shape, a volume-weighted crystallite size distribution and a second-order crystalline lattice strain distribution.