FTIR–ATR studies of water structure in reverse micelles during the synthesis of oxalate precursor nanoparticles

The structure of water in water-in-oil microemulsions used to synthesize oxalate precusor nanoparticles for the production of YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) superconductor powder has been studied by FTIR–ATR spectroscopy of the OH stretching band. Two initial microemulsions are mixed together and nanoparticles are formed by a precipitation reaction in the cores of the reverse micelles of the resulting microemulsion. The shapes of the water OH stretching bands for the microemulsions before and after the reaction exhibit noticeable differences when normalized at their peaks. These differences have been quantified by decomposing the water OH stretching band into three components corresponding to water molecules with different types of hydrogen bonding. In the microemulsion after the precipitation and formation of oxalate precusor nanoparticles, the structure of water is characterized with an increased fraction of bound water. These bound water molecules are also connected with stronger H-bonds. We propose that upon synthesis of the precursor nanoparticles, the observed water structure changes are due to a thin water layer formed around the newly synthesized nanoparticles.