Preparation of multicomponent oxides via non-hydrolytic sol–gel routes from novel bimetallic alkoxides

New series of double alkoxides of erbium and its oxides have been prepared by non-hydrolytic sol–gel reactions for the first time. These compounds were characterized with the help of FT-IR, NMR, Mass, DTA-TGA and SEM. The mass spectra show similar types of fragmentation pattern in all compounds. The XRD diffraction pattern shows an enhanced homogeneity at high temperature. TGA/DTA measurements show that thermal decomposition occurs in steps and entirely depends on the chemical compositions and the synthesis routes. The SEM observation reveals a high dense and smooth microstructural uniformity of polycrystalline nature. The physico-chemical properties show that crystallization behaviors can be controlled with the help of fine-tuning the chemical properties of chelating agents in order to increase the solubility of metal alkoxides.