Synthesis and growth studies of barium titanates: 0−D and 1−D nanostructures using hydrogen titanate precursor

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur-208016, UP, India

²Center for Nanosciences and Center for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur-208016, UP, India

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2017, 8 (10), pp 965-970

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2017.1566

Publication Date (Web): Jul 22, 2017

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: guptark@iitk.ac.in

Abstract

The present work demonstrates a simple and efficient route to synthesize a variety of barium titanate (BaTiO₃) nanostructures including nanowires, nanoswords, nanostars, nanocubes, and nanoparticles by a facile hydrothermal approach. The experiments showed that different morphologies can easily be tuned by varying the concentration of precursors, i.e., hydrogen titanate (H₂Ti₃O₇) and barium hydroxide octahydrate (Ba(OH)₂.8H₂O), while keeping the molar ratio, reaction temperature and time fixed. The structure and morphology of BaTiO₃ were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicate that BaTiO₃ nanowires are in cubic phase with an average diameter of 80-100 nm. The shape of BaTiO₃ changes from nanowires to nanoparticles with an increase in Ba(OH)₂.8H₂O concentration from 0.08 M to 0.51 M. Two possible mechanisms, in-situ topotactic transformation reaction and dissolution-deposition reaction have been suggested for different morphologies of BaTiO₃.  The synthesized 0-D and 1-D BaTiO₃ nanostructures are promising materials for many applications because of their excellent dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties. The present work will open a new route to single reaction parameter dependent synthesis of 0- and 1-D BaTiO₃ nanostructures which can find a range of applications including electronics, catalysis, energy harvesting, etc.

Keywords

Nanowires, ceramics, dielectrics, ferroelectrics, nanocrystalline materials.