Molten Salt Synthesis of Micro-Sized Hexagonally Shaped REMnO₃ (RE = Y, Er, Tm, Yb)

Abstract

Yttrium manganite (YMnO3) is a compound belonging to the hexagonal rare earth manganites family, which demonstrates multiferroic properties. This material can be prepared by several synthetic approaches, with the most common one being the solid-state synthesis. In this work, we show a possibility of preparing this material via molten salt synthesis using the NaCl-KCl mixture as the reaction medium and yttrium and manganese nitrates as the starting materials. We demonstrate that, by varying the reaction temperature and the nitrates-to-chlorides ratio, it is feasible to synthesize hexagonally shaped particles of microscopic dimensions. A similar synthesis procedure can be successfully applied for the preparation of other hexagonal manganites—ErMnO3, TmMnO3, and YbMnO3.

Keywords

• multiferroics
• hexagonal manganites
• yttrium manganite
• molten salt synthesis