The electron-density functional method (in the gradient approximation) and the pseudopotential method were used to study the mechanism of ionic conductivity in the cubic phase of zirconia stabilized with Mg or Y. The O-ion migration in the stabilized zirconia was shown to be a 2-stage process, which consists in the formation of active O vacancies and in O-ion jumps from one active vacancy to another. The total activation energy of these processes was calculated to be 1.0 to 1.5eV, which agreed with experimental data.

The Mechanism of Ionic Conductivity in Stabilized Cubic Zirconia. V.G.Zavodinsky: Physics of the Solid State, 2004, 46[3], 453-7