Nanothickness films, nanostructured films, and nanocrystals of barium titanate obtained directly by a newly developed sol–gel synthesis pathway

Abstract

This work aims to develop a chemically modified sol–gel synthesis pathway for obtaining various barium titanate nanostructures. The method is able to prepare different BaTiO3 nanostructures such as highly stable nanoparticle embedded colloids, highly transparent amorphous nanolayers, nanocrystalline BaTiO3 powders and ultrathin BaTiO3 nanostructured films directly from a precursor solution. All the products have been prepared at a lower temperature and in a more cost-effective way in contrast to other established sol–gel methods. The results show that the optical transparency of the thin films has been significantly improved in contrast to the similar researches. The deposited thin film is highly transparent with an average transmission of 87 % in the wavelength range from 400 to 1,200 nm, which this transparency is higher than the reported values in the similar researches in those, the average transmissions in the range of 70–75 % have been reported. From the study of the relationships between structure and properties of the products, it is found that the optical transparency enhancement in the thin films is due to the size of the particles within the precursor solution, which is in the range of a few nanometers. The above-mentioned advantages have been reached thanks to the applied modifications, which result in the drastic downsizing the particles within the precursor solution.