Effect of organic additions on crystal growth behavior of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 nanopowders prepared via sol–gel process

Abstract

The effects of the addition of AcOH and ethanol on phase composition and crystal growth behavior of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 nanopowders prepared via sol–gel process were investigated. As a result, the phase composition of final products was not affected by the addition of ethanol or AcOH in the raw solution. The activation energy for crystal growth was firstly decreased and then increased with the continuous addition of ethanol or AcOH, while it was obviously influenced by the content of AcOH. After the addition of AcOH, the activation energy for crystal growth was reduced from 26.60 kJ/mol to 23.59 kJ/mol, and then was gradually augmented to 39.75 kJ/mol with the continuous increase. Correspondingly, the crystallite size of final products was controlled to be 48.5 nm, and the lowest activation energy for crystal growth of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 nanopowders was obtained with water as the solvent and the AcOH/Mn molar ratio of 1:2, which was beneficial to the crystallization of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 grains.