Molten salt synthesis of SrTiO 3 nanocrystals using nanocrystalline TiO 2 as a precursor

Abstract

A molten salt method was proposed to synthesize SrTiO 3 nanocrystals in the eutectic NaCl–KCl at 700 °C for 6 h, by using the homemade TiO 2 nanocrystals and commercial Sr(NO 3) 2 powder as raw materials. Besides, a control experiment with the commercial TiO 2 submicron-sized crystallites as a precursor was also conducted. The structure and composition of the obtained products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results from XRD and XPS revealed the preparation of pure cubic phase SrTiO 3 powders. The TEM observation demonstrated that the nanocrystalline TiO 2 precursor played an important role in the current molten salt synthesis of SrTiO 3 nanocrystals, which were likely formed by the template formation mechanism.