Zirconium dioxide coating on particles of titanium dioxide pigments, as a refractory material, in insulation, abrasives and enamels. Stabilized zirconia is used in oxygen sensors and fuel cell membranes because it has the ability to allow oxygen ions to move freely through the crystal structure at high temperatures. This high ionic conductivity (and a low electronic conductivity) makes it one of the most useful electroceramics. Zirconium dioxide is also used as the solid electrolyte in electrochromic devices. Zirconia is a precursor to the electroceramic lead zirconate titanate ("PZT"), which is a high-K dielectric, which is found in myriad components. The very low
Synthetic element Synthetic element In chemistry, a synthetic element is a chemical element that does not occur naturally on Earth, and can only be created artificially. So far, 24 synthetic elements have been created (those with atomic numbers 95–118). All are unstable, decaying with half-lives ranging from 15.6 million years to a few hundred microseconds. Seven other elements were first created artificially and thus considered synthetic, but later discovered to exist naturally (in trace quantities) as well; among them plutonium—first synthesized in 1940—the one best known to laypeople, because of its use in atomic bombs and nuclear reactors. Synthetic elements are radioactive