Formation of single-crystalline BaTiO3 nanorods from glycolate by tuning the supersaturation conditions
Olha Kovalenko, Srečo D. Škapin, Marjeta Maček Kržmanc, Damjan Vengust, Matjaž Spreitzer, Zdravko Kutnjak, A. V. Ragulya
Abstract
We have studied peculiarities in the formation of single-crystalline barium titanate (BaTiO3) nanorods from a glycolate-mediated complex via a single-step hydrothermal process under different supersaturation (SR) conditions. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed the formation of pure BaTiO3 with an SR of above 19. The tetragonality for the BaTiO3 (c/a) reached 1.013 at SR = 19–29 and dropped to 1.010 for SR = 39. According to the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and XRD analyses, the rod-shaped particles exhibited single crystallinity and crystal growth along the [001] plane. With scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the morphological evolution from a plate-shaped intermediate precursor (SR = 6–9) to a rod-shaped product with an aspect ratio of 6–9 (SR = 19–29), and to non-polar material with an irregular structure (SR = 39), was observed. The negative slope, linear dependence of the particles’ width and length on the supersaturation level in the range SR = 19–39 was established for the first time. The replacement of the prevailing crystallization mechanism from in-situ topotactic transformation into dissolution-precipitation above SR = 19 was observed. It was shown that with a simple regulation of the SR, the structural and morphological characteristics of the obtained BaTiO3 nanoparticle can be effectively tuned.