Effect of titanium dioxide solubility on the formation of BaTiO3 nanoparticles in supercritical water

Fine BaTiO3 nanoparticles were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis under supercritical condition (400 °C and 30 MPa) from mixture of barium hydroxide and titanium dioxide as starting precursors. First, conditions for synthesizing BaTiO3 were examined by using batch reactors. High pH condition, pH > 13, is necessary to obtain phase pure BaTiO3. The reason was discussed based on the solubility of titanium dioxide, which that dissolution–recrystallization process is essential for the synthesis of BaTiO3 nanoparticles. Rapid heating of the starting precursors by mixing with high temperature water in a flow reactor is effective to synthesize smaller size and narrower particle size distribution for the BaTiO3 nanoparticles, compared with the case of slow heating with a batch reactor.