One-step molten-salt synthesis of BaTi4O9 nanowires with oxygen deficiency-enhanced dielectric performance

One-dimensional nanostructures of BaO-xTiO(2) binary oxides with a high oxygen deficiency and a good dielectric performance are of great interest but seldom studied. In the present study, single-crystalline BaTi4O9 (stoichiometric BaO-4TiO(2)) nanowires were synthesized using a simple, one-step molten-salt method by co-heating the powder mixtures of NaCl, TiO2 and BaCl2 nanoparticles at 750 degrees C. A series of spontaneous processes in the molten NaCl/BaCl2 salt mixture with the dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles, including ion diffusion, chemical reaction, particle agglomeration and ion exchange, yielded the BaTi4O9 nanowires. Photoelectron spectroscopic and dielectric analyses indicated that a high fraction of oxygen deficiency for 10.4% provided the as-synthesized BaTi4O9 nanowires with a high capacitance density of 13 F/m(2). Thermal annealing lowered the oxygen deficiency to 6.6% and the capacitance density to 9 F/m(2). The increase in wire length increased the oxygen deficiency and dielectric constant of the nanowires.