Low temperature synthesis and characterization of strontium stannate–titanate ceramics

A novel modified chimie douce synthetic approach based on the gel to crystallite conversion (G–C) method has been developed to prepare strontium titanate SrTiO3, strontium stannate SrSnO3, and mixed strontium stannate–titanate SrSn1−xTixO3 (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 SrTiO3 was observed in the temperature range of 800–1000 °C. The formation of monophasic SrSnO3 occurs in the temperature range of 700–900 °C. At lower and higher temperatures the formation an impurity phases such as SrCO3 and SnO2 takes place. The same synthetic approach has been applied for the preparation of mixed strontium stannates–titanates SrSn1−xTixO3. The SEM images of SrTiO3 samples indicated that the powder particles are 1–5 μm in size having approximately plate-like shape. Quite different surface morphology was determined for SrSnO3 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.