Application of lower temperature for crystallization of PbTio3 nanopowders by the sol-gel method

Abstract

The aim of this article is to decrease the crystallization temperature of the tetragonal perovskite PbTiO3 nanopowders below the PbTiO3 Curie temperature (~ 500 °C). At the beginning of our study, the calcination temperature was selected based on the thermal analysis of the PbTiO3 gels, came out at 680 °C. However, detailed investigation of the thermal properties of the PbTiO3 gel revealed possibility of the formation of single tetragonal perovskite phase at lower temperatures. Pb-partitioning phenomenon (section 3.2) was investigated in detail in PbTiO3 nanopowders in order to reach good crystallization below 500 °C. Both X-Ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations showed that well crystalline pure phase PbTiO3 nanopowders have been synthesized after calcination of the PbTiO3 gel at 460 °C, which is quite close to the Curie temperature of the PbTiO3 nanoparticles. To improve crystallization of the samples prepared at 460 °C, the effects of the heat treatment parameters and Pb content on gel crystallization were investigated in detail. © 2016, Hanyang University. All rights reserved.