Sonication-accelerated catalytic synthesis of oxide nanoparticles
Abstract
High throughput synthesis of nanocrystalline cubic oxides and perovskites is achieved through the synergetic contribution of sonication to accelerate the reaction kinetics of low-temperature vapor diffusion catalytic fabrication from the alkoxide precursors. In this quantitative yield process, multiple-gram synthesis of uniform-sized, highly crystalline ceria (3.8 nm) and barium titanate (5.6 nm) nanocrystals is accomplished with a significant acceleration of throughput over that obtained without sonication. The ability to produce oxide nanomaterials with different structural complexities in a high throughput generalized process is a significant step toward meeting the increased needs for mass production of high performance materials.