Protocol for Ultralow-Temperature Ceramic Sintering: An Integration of Nanotechnology and the Cold Sintering Process

The sintering process is an essential step in taking particulate materials into dense ceramic materials. Although a number of sintering techniques have emerged over the past few years, the sintering process is still performed at high temperatures. Here we establish a protocol to achieve dense ceramic solids at extremely low temperatures (<200 degrees C) via integrating the particle nanotechnology into the recently developed cold sintering process (CSP). The sintering path has been appropriately tailored via effectively utilizing the large surface-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles. BaTiO3 ceramics have been used for the illustration, given its importance in extensive electronic device applications, as well as its scientific interest, being a model material for many of the ferroelectric materials. Together with detailed experimental studies, the trends are also analyzed with a fundamental thermodynamic consideration. Such an impactful technique could have widespread application prospects in a wide variety of materials and would also provide a clear roadmap to guide future studies on ultralow-temperature ceramic sintering, ceramic materials related integration, and sustainable manufacturing practices.