Combinatorial hydrothermal synthesis and characterisation of perovskites

In the present work we have applied combinatorial methodology to the hydrothermal synthesis and characterisation of perovskites. In a first series with 48 samples in the (Pb,Ba,Sr)ZrO3 compositional field, synthesis conditions were optimised by variation of pH. In a second series of 96 samples the (Pb,Ba)(Zr,Ti)O-3 Compositional field was investigated, with the aim to control crystallinity and particle size. Using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), it was established that most compositions crystallised readily within 3-23 h at 200 degrees C in 2.0-3.3 M KOH. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size was determined to be from 3 to 8 mu m for the pure zirconates to 0.2-1 mu m for the pure fitanates. Microprobe wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) was used for chemical analysis. It was found that particle size was determined primarily by bulk chemistry whereas a polyacrylamide additive and pH had little effect. It has been shown that combinatorial hydrothermal synthesis and characterisation techniques are fully applicable to the synthesis and-basic characterisation of perovskites. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.