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Low temperature nanostructured zinc titanate by an aqueous particulate sol-gel route: Optimisation of heat treatment condition based on Zn:Ti molar ratio

Mohammadi, M. R ; Sharif University of Technology | 2010

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2009.09.031
  3. Publisher: 2010
  4. Abstract:
  5. Nanocrystalline zinc titanate (ZnTiO3) thin films and powders with purity of 94% were produced at the low sintering temperature of 500 °C and the short sintering time of 1 h by a straightforward aqueous particulate sol-gel route. The effect of Zn:Ti molar ratio was studied on the crystallisation behaviour of zinc titanates. The prepared sols showed a narrow particle size distribution in the range 17-19 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that the powders contained mixtures of the rhombohedral-ZnTiO3, cubic-ZnO, cubic-Zn2TiO4 phases, as well as the anatase-TiO2 and the rutile-TiO2 depending on the sintering temperature and Zn:Ti molar ratio. Moreover, it was found that Zn:Ti molar ratio and sintering temperature influence the preferable orientation growth of the zinc titanate, being on (2 1 1) planes for molar ratios of Zn:Ti = 25:75 and 50:50 and on (1 over(1, ̄) 0) planes for molar ratio of Zn:Ti = 75:25 at sintering temperature of 600 °C. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed that the average crystallite size of the powders annealed at 400 °C was around 2 nm and a gradual increase occurred up to 8 nm by heat treatment at 1000 °C. The activation energy for crystal growth of nanocrystalline ZnTiO3 calculated in the range 07.86-14.79 kJ/mol. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) analysis revealed that the deposited thin films had mesoporous and nanocrystalline structure with the average grain size of 19-23 nm at 600 °C and 34-39 nm at 800 °C depending upon the Zn:Ti molar ratio
  6. Keywords:
  7. Aqueous particulate sol-gel ; Nanostructure ; Zinc titanate ; Average grain size ; Crystallisation ; Field emission scanning electron microscopes ; Heat treatment conditions ; Low sintering temperature ; Low temperatures ; Mesoporous ; Molar ratio ; Nano-crystalline structures ; Nano-structured ; Nanocrystallines ; Optimisations ; Orientation growth ; Sintering temperatures ; Sintering time ; Sol-gel routes ; TiO ; ZnO ; Activation energy ; Chemicals removal (water treatment) ; Crystal orientation ; Crystallite size ; Crystallization ; Electron microscopes ; Field emission ; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ; Gels ; Grain boundaries ; Low temperature operations ; Nanocrystalline powders ; Nanostructures ; Oxide minerals ; Scanning electron microscopy ; Sintering ; Sol-gel process ; Sol-gels ; Sols ; Thermal effects ; Thin films ; Titanium ; Titanium dioxide ; Titanium oxides ; Transmission electron microscopy ; X ray diffraction ; X ray powder diffraction ; Zinc oxide ; Zinc
  8. Source: Journal of the European Ceramic Society ; Volume 30, Issue 4 , 2010 , Pages 947-961 ; 09552219 (ISSN)
  9. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955221909004920