Low temperature synthesis and characterization of strontium stannate–titanate ceramics

Abstract A novel modified chimie douce synthetic approach based on the gel to crystallite conversion (G–C) method has been developed to prepare strontium titanate SrTiO 3 , strontium stannate SrSnO 3 , and mixed strontium stannate–titanate SrSn 1− x Ti x O 3 ( x  = 0.05–0.5). The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation of fully crystalline SrTiO 3 was observed in the temperature range of 800–1000 °C. The formation of monophasic SrSnO 3 occurs in the temperature range of 700–900 °C. At lower and higher temperatures the formation an impurity phases such as SrCO 3 and SnO 2 takes place. The same synthetic approach has been applied for the preparation of mixed strontium stannates–titanates SrSn 1− x Ti x O 3 . The SEM images of SrTiO 3 samples indicated that the powder particles are 1–5 μm in size having approximately plate-like shape. Quite different surface morphology was determined for SrSnO 3 samples revealing the size of crystals from 500 nm to 40 μm. For the composition with x  = 0.15, it was observed that the grain growth is uniform and the size of the grains is of the order of ∼2–5 μm.