Continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanometric BaZrO3 in supercritical water

Nanocrystalline barium zirconate (BaZrO3) was synthesized using a hydrothermal synthesis process working in supercritical conditions and in a continuous way. By this method, we succeeded in the continuous and rapid production of nanopowders. As a preliminary work three barium precursors have been investigated: barium hydroxide (Ba(OH)(2)), barium acetate (Ba(CH3COO)(2)) and barium nitrate (Ba(NO3)(2)). Two of them (Ba(CH3COO)(2) and Ba(NO3)(2)) led to the pure perovskite phase. Then an experimental design has been conducted in order to determine the influence of the experimental parameters on the crystallinity and the grain size of the final product. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.