Solution based approaches for the morphology control of BaTiO3 particulates

Within the action COST 539 ELENA our contribution was aimed at studying solution based approaches for the morphology control of BaTiO3 particulates. Initially, our kinetic analysis and systematic structural and morphological studies, demonstrated that during hydrothermal synthesis from layered titanate nanotubes (TiNTS), BaTiO3 forms via two mechanisms depending on the temperature and time. At low temperatures (90°C), “wild” type BaTiO3 dendritic particles with cubic structure were formed through a phase boundary topotactic reaction. At higher temperatures and/or for longer times time, the reaction is controlled by a dissolution precipitation mechanism and “seaweed” type BaTiO3 dendrites are formed. Our results unambiguously elucidated why TiNTs do not routinely act as templates for the formation of 1D BaTiO3. In our subsequent investigations, the effect of additives on the aqueous and hydrothermal synthesis of BaTiO3 was assessed. We reported that although the tested additives influenced the growth of BaTiO3, their behaviour varied; poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) adsorbed on specific crystallographic faces changing the growth kinetics and inducing the oriented attachment of the particles; poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) act as growth inhibitors rather than crystal habit modifiers; and DFructose appeared to increase the activation energy for nucleation, resulting in small crystals (26 nm). Our work clearly indicates that the synthesis of 1D nanostructures of complex oxides by chemical methods is non trivial.