The modification of surface, size and shape of barium zirconate powder <i>via</i> salt flux

Abstract

Abstract The “top‐down” process via direct conversion of the micro (μm)‐to‐submicroscale ( sub ‐μm) particle was applied in this work by using eutectic chloride salts to prepare BaZrO 3 . The particle size at optimum condition could be decreased by more than 10 times from 2.1 ± 0.9 μ m to 168 ± 23 nm without destroying the 1:1 of Ba:Zr stoichiometry. The uniform sub‐ μm‐BaZrO 3 powder was sintered in order to obtain ~98% dense ceramic at 1400°C/10 h, which is significantly lower than the 1650°C in normal cases. The microwave dielectric constant, tan δ, and quality factor were also determined. Furthermore, this method also was applied to lead‐free piezoelectric material in the 0.87BaTiO 3 –0.13BaZrO 3 –CaTiO 3 (0.87BT–0.13BZ–CT) system. The particle size of 0.87BT–0.13BZ–CT was reduced greatly from &gt;10 µm to 2.8 ± 0.4 µm. It can be proved that salt flux dissolution method enables high‐purity with uniform sub‐micro/nanometer powder production in one step by using simple laboratory equipment and low‐cost raw materials.