Synthesis and Characterization of Y<sub>3</sub>Al<sub>5</sub>O<sub>12</sub> Nanocrystals

Abstract

Y3Al5O12 (YAG) is one of the important and extensively used solid state laser host materials. YAG nanocrystals were synthesized by low temperature glycol method. This is a modified sol–gel method performed at low temperature that consists of a mixture of salts, mostly nitrates in an aqueous media. Single phase nanocrystalline YAG was obtained at 850 °C, which is lower temperature compared to the other methods such as wet-chemical method. This is however, little higher than the material made by alkoxide sol–gel process. The structural characterization is done by powder XRD, SEM and TEM techniques. The crystallite sizes range from 20-50 nm for the materials prepared at 850- 950 °C.