Chemical synthesis of barium zirconate titanate powder by an autocombustion technique

Abstract

A self-propagated combustion technique for the synthesis of zirconia-doped barium titanate (BZT) is reported. The technique involves autocombustion of a citrate-nitrate gel at relatively low temperature (150–200 °C). The product is obtained after calcination of the resulting ash at ca. 800 °C. The method is very simple, convenient, less explosive than conventional methods and is expected to be economic for large-scale production of fine (1.36 µm), homogeneous powders without any compositional fluctuation. The typical surface area of the calcined powder particles is found to be ca. 9.0 m² g^–1, corresponding to an average particle size of 0.1 µm. The powder could be sintered up to 92–93% density at 1300°C, which is significantly lower than that used for the powders prepared by conventional routes.