Abstract

Strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) nanocrystals have been synthesized, for the first time, through a facile method using SrC₂O₄·H₂O-TiO₂ precursor. DTA-TG techniques were used to follow the titanate formation process. XRD and FT-IR measurements were used to characterize the intermediate decomposition products as well as the titanate formation. XRD showed single-phase, crystalline, cubic perovskite with a lattice constant of 3.9017 Å. TEM image exhibited agglomerated cubic particles with size of about 70 nm. BET measurements, used to characterize the surface properties, revealed a surface area of 9.5 m² g^-1. The study of the electrical properties as a function of temperature and frequency exhibited semiconducting behavior with conduction activation energy of 0.45 eV. Kinetic analysis of non-isothermal TG curves, using three different computational integral methods revealed an activation energy value, for the titanate formation, of 240 kJ mol^-1 according to the phase boundary controlled mechanism (R₂).

Keywords: BET, DTA-TG, electrical, kinetic, SrTiO₃, XRD.

Graphical Abstract