Preparation of PbTiO3 by seeding-assisted chemical sol-gel

Lead Titanate has been prepared by a sol-gel method using titanium tetrabutoxide and lead acetate in stoichiometric proportion. It was found that the seeding with solid PbTiO3 nanometer-size particles (5 and 10 wt%) into the precursor solution plays a crucial role during crystallisation. At 380° and 400°C, the fraction of crystallisation of the PbTiO3 perovskite phase for seeded sample is much higher than that corresponding to the unseeded one. Unseeded gel remained almost amorphous at 400°C, whereas the 5 and 10 wt% seeded gel was ≈50 and 85% crystalline. Besides, while unseeded calcined gels exhibit clearly the presence of pyrochlore phase at 425°C, this phase was not detected for the 5 wt% calcined seeded gel.