Synthesis and characterization of perovskite PbTiO3 nanoparticles with solution processability†

Ferroelectrics with perovskite structure (ABO3), for example, lead titanate (PbTiO3), are the most studied ferroelectric oxides because of their versatile properties for use in thin film capacitors, electronic transducers, actuators, high-k dielectrics, pyroelectric sensors, and nonlinear optics. The studies on nanostructured PbTiO3 are limited, mainly due to the lack of facile synthetic techniques to prepare nano-sized PbTiO3, i.e., colloidal PbTiO3 nanoparticles. Herein, we presented a novel nonaqueous, relatively low temperature, and highly scalable route to PbTiO3 nanoparticles. The use of oleic acid as surface capping ligand provides nanoparticles with good solubility in organic solvents, thereby enabling the low-cost solution based processing. Rather than the use of expensive bimetallic alkoxide precursors, common chemicals were utilized in this non-hydrolytic thermal decomposition approach; moreover, there is no need for extremely high temperature and long reaction time, making it possible for the large scale synthesis.