Effects of aerosol heating rate on the properties of aggregates of lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles produced by spray pyrolysis.

The dependence of the shape and size distribution of aggregates of lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles prepared by spray pyrolysis of a sol–gel precursor solution is reported. Decreasing the average heating rate from 300 to 160 °C s−1 in the sub-200 °C section of the reactor decreased the proportion of non-spherical particle aggregates and decreased the maximum size from ~10 to ~5 μm. Microtome sectioning revealed an internal structure composed of <100 nm primary particles. Both solid and hollow particle aggregates were present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]