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Yttrium oxide is Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>. It is an air-stable, white substance. Yttrium oxide is used as a common starting material for both material science as well as inorganic compounds.
It is the most important yttrium compound and is widely used to make YVO<sub>4</sub> europium and Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> europium phosphors that give the red color in color TV picture tubes. Yttrium oxide is also used to make yttrium-iron-garnets, which are very effective microwave filters.
In its most important application, Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> is used to make the high temperature superconductor YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7</sub>, known as "1-2-3" to indicate the ratio of the metal constituents:
0.5 Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> + 2 BaO + 3 CuO + 0.25 O<sub>2</sub> → YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7</sub>
This synthesis is typically conducted at 800 °C.
The thermal conductivity of yttrium oxide was measured as 27 W/m/K.[1]
Yttrium oxide is an important starting point for inorganic compounds. For organometallic chemistry it is converted to YCl3 in a reaction with concentrated hydrochloric acid and ammonium chloride.