Low temperature synthesis and characterization of strontium stannate-titanate ceramics

A novel modified chimie douce synthetic approach based on the gel to crystallite conversion (G-C) method has been developed to prepare strontium titanate SrTiO(3), strontium stannate SrSnO(3), and mixed strontium stannate-titanate SrSn(1-x)Ti(x)O(3) (x=0.05-0.5). The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation of fully crystalline SrTiO(3) was observed in the temperature range of 800-1000 degrees C. The formation of monophasic SrSnO(3) occurs in the temperature range of 700-900 degrees C. At lower and higher temperatures the formation an impurity phases such as SrCO(3) and SnO(2) takes place. The same synthetic approach has been applied for the preparation of mixed strontium stannates-titanates SrSn(1-x)TixO(3). The SEM images of SrTiO(3) samples indicated that the powder particles are 1-5 mu m in size having approximately plate-like shape. Quite different surface morphology was determined for SrSnO(3) samples revealing the size of crystals from 500 nm to 40 mu m. For the composition with x=0.15, it was observed that the grain growth is uniform and the size of the grains is of the order of similar to 2-5 mu m. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.