Effect of Ultrasonic Processing on the Synthesis of Barium Titanyl Oxalate and the Characteristics of the BaTiO3 Powder Prepared from It

Barium titanyl oxalate (BTO) with small deviations from stoichiometry has been synthesized by a chemical and a sonochemical method (under ultrasonication). Ultrasonic processing has been shown to reduce the particle size of the resultant BTO powder by about ten times and ensure a nearly spherical shape of the particles. The morphology of barium titanate powders prepared by decomposing the BTO at a temperature of 900°C is similar to that of the parent BTO and independent of stoichiometry. The powders have a barium to titanium ratio Ba/Ti = 1.002 and 0.987. The barium titanate powders synthesized using the sonochemical method contain a smaller amount of residual phases and have a larger specific surface area, smaller crystallite size (~100 nm), and smaller unit-cell parameters than do the powders prepared without ultrasonication.