Investigation of Phase Transition for BaTiO ₃ Nanoparticles Using a Laboratory-Grade High-Temperature X‑ray...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Solid State Physics

Background:

• Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is a versatile perovskite material with significant ferroelectric properties.
• Understanding the phase transition behavior of nanomaterials is crucial for their application in electronic devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the phase transition behavior of 12 nm BaTiO3 nanoparticles.
• To determine if laboratory-grade high-temperature X-ray diffraction can detect this transition.

Main Methods:

• Preparation of 12 nm BaTiO3 nanoparticles.
• High-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) analysis.
• Measurement of {111}, {200}, and {220} reflections.
• Estimation of Full Width at Half Maximum (fwhm) of diffraction peaks.

Main Results:

• The fwhm of {200} reflections decreased with increasing temperature, stabilizing above the phase transition temperature.
• The fwhm of {111} reflections remained constant from room temperature to 600 °C.
• The observed changes in fwhm indicate a structural transformation from tetragonal to cubic.

Conclusions:

• The study confirms the tetragonal-to-cubic phase transition in 12 nm BaTiO3 nanoparticles.
• High-temperature X-ray diffraction is a viable method for detecting phase transitions in BTO nanoparticles by analyzing fwhm variations.