Effects of reaction conditions in microwave synthesis of nanocrystalline barium titanate

The effect of synthesis parameters such as H2O/Ti, Ba/Ti and OH-/Ti ratios and heating methods (microwave irradiation and hydrothermal heating) on the synthesis of BaTiO3 crystals has been investigated to prepare nanocrystalline BaTiO3 crystals. The nanocrystals (less than 30 nm) were synthesized with microwave irradiation of reaction mixture prepared from conventional chloride precursors. The crystal size decreased with an increase of hydroxide and barium concentrations, whereas the size decreased with a decrease of the water concentration. Synthesis of BaTiO3 with the microwave provided advantages of fast crystallization and decreased crystal size. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.