Abstract
A ZrO2–TiO2 solid solution is obtained by high energy ball milling of equimolar mixture of monoclinic (m) ZrO2 and anatase (a) TiO2. Nanocrystalline orthorhombic ZrTiO4 compound is initiated from the nucleation of TiO2–ZrO2 solid solution with isostructural s-TiO2 (srilankite) base after 30min of milling. After 12h of milling, 95mol% non-stoichiometric ZrTiO4 phase is formed. Post-annealing of 12h ball-milled powder mixture at 1073K for 1h in open air results in complete formation of stoichiometric ZrTiO4 compound. Microstructures of all powder mixtures milled for different durations have been characterized by Rietveld's structure and microstructure refinement method using X-ray powder diffraction data. HRTEM images of 12h milled and annealed samples provide direct evidence of the results obtained from the Rietveld analysis. Optical bandgaps of ball milled and annealed ZrTiO4 compounds lie within the semiconducting region (~2.0eV) and increases with increase in milling time.
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