In situ processing of ferroelectric materials from lead waste streams by injection of gas phase titanium precursors:: Laser induced fluorescence and X-ray diffraction measurements

Several industrial process exhaust gas streams contain enriched toxic metal species such as lead and cadmium. Gas phase sorbent precursor techniques have been developed to effectively capture these toxic metal species. This methodology is further extended to not only capture the toxic metal species, hut produce useful materials. Injection of gas phase titanium precursors to reactively capture the lead species is proposed for the processing of ferroelectric lead titanate materials in enriched lead exhaust streams. Conditions to produce lead titanate in high temperature systems are established. Diagnostic techniques such as X-ray diffraction and laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy are used to determine optimal conditions to not only capture the lead species but also produce perovskite structured lead titanate. Such approaches can be extended to real combustor exhaust streams with high toxic metal concentrations such as lead smelters for effective environmental control and production of novel materials.