Composite-hydroxide-mediated approach an effective synthesis route for BaTiO functional nanomaterials.

This paper describes synthesis of the functional BaTiO (BT) nanostructures by composite-hydroxide-mediated (CHM) approach. The effect of processing temperature on the nucleation and the optical, structural properties is investigated. The nanostructures prepared at various temperatures (180, 220 and 250 °C) are thermally stable and nucleate in different morphologies, which shows a temperature-dependent mechanism of the CHM approach. The nanostructures are cubic in nature with an average particle size in the range of 97-250 nm. The local crystal structure investigated by Raman spectroscopy reveals a certain degree of tetragonality on atomic scale in the local phase structure. The micrographs of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicate formation of the nanocuboids at 180 and 220 °C with larger particle size. At 250 °C, the product shows ball-like spherical morphology. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) confirms the existence of Ba, Ti and O elements in the product, which indicates a chemically pure product. Further signature on the formation, purity and chemical bonding is obtained from FT-IR spectroscopy. Based on these experimental results, size, morphology manipulation and possible growth mechanisms are proposed with CHM at low temperature and without surfactant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]