Hydrothermal synthesis of single-crystal BaTiO3 dendrites

In this paper, we report a simple hydrothermal method without any surfactants, for the first time, to synthesize single-crystal BaTiO3 dendrites. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction (ED), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The KOH concentration was found to be vital to the final formation of BaTiO3 dendrites. An obvious morphology evolution from sphere-like shape to dendrite was observed when KOH concentration was decreased from 1 M to 0.1 M. It is rational to expect that dendritic structures of other perovskite oxides may also be synthesized by this simple method. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.