Hydrothermal synthesis of barium titanate (BaTiO3) at 240-degrees-C us
ing different barium salts as starting reactants is examined. It is fo
und that halide salts (I-, Br-, Cl-) result in the highest tetragonal
content, followed by acetate, nitrate, and hydroxide salts. The tetrag
onal content was quantified from differential scanning calorimetry by
following the endothermic Curie transition around 130-degrees-C and re
ached as high as 37-39% for the materials made with the barium halides
. The particle sizes ranged from 0.15 to 0.37 mum, as estimated by sca
nning electron microscopy. Sintering and dielectric properties of the
barium titanates synthesized from different barium sources were examin
ed. BaTiO3 made from the chloride salt sintered with high densities at
1250-degrees-C with grain sizes of 1-5 mum and a room-temperature die
lectric constant (1 kHz) of 2960.