Preparation of nanocrystalline PbTiO 3 by accelerated sol–gel process

Abstract

Nanocrystalline lead titanate was prepared quickly by accelerated sol–gel process. The reactive system contained Pb(Ac) 2·3H 2O, H 2O, Ti(OC 4H 9) 4 and CH 3CHOHCH 3. The mechanism of gel formation and the mechanism of PbTiO 3 formation through gel to crystallite conversion were studied thoroughly by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The gel was made up of two gels. The gel produced by the hydrolysis of Ti(OC 4H 9) 4 formed the network. Pb(Ac) 2 gel, CH 3CHOHCH 3 and H 2O coexisted in the network evenly. Tetragonal perovskite structure PbTiO 3 was prepared at 550 °C. The dimension of particles is about 50 nm. The effect of milling on nanocrystalline dimension was firstly discussed in this paper.