Molten alkali metal oxonitrates, a liquid state for nanosized perovskite phase elaboration

Alkali metal nitrates or nitrites have rather low melting points and provid e a powerful liquid medium for the precipitation of metal oxides from their common salts. Oxonitrate anions are Lux-Flood bases; the basicity can be c hosen between nitrate or nitrite depending on the acidity of the metal cati on or the kind of oxide desired. Once the experimental conditions are deter mined, generally by using TGA, one can obtain phases such as BaTiO3, PbTiO3 or LaMnO3 quickly and reproducibly. Elementary particles, single crystals about 100 nm in size, form rather soft aggregates of approximately 2 mu m. The purity is suitable for most applications.