In the present work, the microwave heating (MH) route is used to prepare and sinter dysprosium-doped ceria (DDC) nanopowder,Ce((1-x))Dy(x)O(2-x/2) (x = 0.05-0.25 at.%), and the results are compared with the same composition obtained by conventional heating (CH). The results show that the as-synthesized powders are pure oxides with high crystallinity. The average crystallite size of the MH-DDC samples is approximately 22 nm, while the CH-DDC sample size is approximately 29 nm. The sinterability of the M H samples is greater than that of the CH samples. Microwave sintering produces high-density MH-DDC pellets with fine and almost homogeneous grain-growth and a grain size of 400 nm, while the conventionally densified pellets have non-uniform grains range in size from 1100 to 1400 nm. The electrical properties of the sintered pellets were investigated by impedance spectroscopy. The ionic conductivity of the MH-DDC15 pellet sintered by microwave at 1050 degrees C for 1 h was determined to be sigma(550 degrees c) = 7.42 x 10(-2) S cm(-1), with an activation energy of E(a) = 0.86 eV. The pellets that were conventionally sintered at 1300 degrees C for 5 h were found to have ionic conductivity of sigma(550 degrees c) = 9.79 x 10(-3) S cm(-1), with E(a) = 1.05 eV. The correlations between the grain, grain boundary relaxation and ion transport mechanism in nanocrystalline electrolyte materials are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.