Carbonation of barium titanate powders studied by FT-IR technique

Carbonation of commercial BaTiO3 powders, as received, calcined, and aged, was studied semiquantitatively by using Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) Spectroscopy. Two kinds of BaCO3 on BaTiO3 were detected: one on the surface at 1469 cm(-1), and the other in the lattice at 1426 cm(-1). After calcination at various temperatures, the carbonates were removed. The recarbonation readily took place for both as received and calcined samples, depending on the CO2 partial pressure. The present study demonstrates the usefulness of DRIFT Spectroscopy in characterizing BaTiO3 surface impurities which enables screening of dielectric raw materials. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.