Size effect on crystal structures of barium titanate nanoparticles prepared by a sol-gel method

Barium titanate nanoparticles were synthesized by the hydrolysis of complex alkoxide precursor that was prepared in a reflux of metallic barium and tetraethylorthotitanate in solvent. The hydrolysis was performed by the addition of water/ethanol solution to the precursor solution. As reflux time increased, particle sizes, which were measured with transmittance electromicroscopy, became smaller followed by sharpening of size distribution. As water concentration and benzene content in the hydrolysis increased, the particle size increased with crystallite size that was determined with X-ray diffractometry. No significant difference was observed between the particle and crystallite sizes up to 30 nm. Over the size of 30 nm, the particle size was larger than the crystallite size because of generation of polycrystallites. Annealing treatments in air at 400 and 1000degreesC also increased both the particle and crystallite sizes. The crystallite sizes estimated from the (111) peaks were smaller than those from (110) peaks in a range of sizes larger than 40 nm, which indicated that the critical crystallite size of transformation from cubic to tetragonal structures was approximately 40 nm.