An inexpensive and efficient method for the synthesis of BTO and STO at temperatures lower than 200 °C

During the past decade the reduction in size of functional architectures has been a dominating trend in many fields of science and technology. The search for electronic materials that can be cheaply solution-processed into nanopowders, while simultaneously providing quality device characteristics, represents a major challenge for material scientists. Solvothermal process is used in order to obtain fine nanoparticles of BaTiO3 and SrTiO3 at low temperatures by using an inorganic, ionic precursor. Rietveld refinement proves the presence of a mixture of 65% tetragonal and 35% cubic nanoparticles in the barium titanate powder with an average size of 73 nm and 67 nm, respectively. FTIR shows that an acid treatment allows the elimination of carbonate impurities.