Coordination polymers as precursors of simple and complex oxides

Coordination polymers (CPs) are assembled from metal ions and organic linker molecules. Here, we demonstrate that CPs can be used as precursors for simple and complex oxide synthesis. First, we investigated the conditions for linker solutions in which CP was obtained as precipitate only by mixing and stirring the solutions for each of the 28 metal-ion aqueous solutions. Evaluation of the crystalline phase of the samples obtained by firing the precipitates revealed that CPs could be used as precursors of simple oxides for 21 metal ions. Next, we conducted experiments to prepare precursors of 10 complex oxides with an A(n)B(n)O m composition containing equimolar amounts of metal ions. Seven complex oxides were successfully synthesized. Three of them were complex oxides that could not be synthesized by the spray coprecipitation method. The present method has a comparable precursor preparation capability to the spray coprecipitation method. Because of the much shorter time for the precursor synthesis, the present method should be useful for parallel and automated experiments.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the use of coordination polymers (CPs) as precursors for simple and complex oxide synthesis. By investigating the conditions for different metal ion solutions, CPs were obtained as precursors for simple oxides. Experiments were then conducted to successfully prepare precursors for 10 complex oxides, including three that could not be synthesized using traditional methods.