A study on the effect of pH and citrate to metal ratio towards the synthesis of barium zirconate using the sol-gel synthesis method

Abstract

In this paper, we present theoretical calculations for determining the optimal citrate to metal ion ratio as well as pH for making phase pure Barium Zirconate powder prepared by the sol-gel synthesis method. The calculations for determining the concentrations of different products of reactions were done using MATLAB software which is well known and popular in engineering and scientific calculations. Initially, an equation is formed which gives the concentration of all ions present in the solution in terms of pH, concentrations of reactants and different equilibrium constants. This equation is then solved iteratively in MATLAB to get the concentration of Cit3−. Using this value of Cit3− concentration, the concentrations of other products of reactions are calculated using different equations (equation (1) to (15)). The results obtained from these calculations were also compared with experimental data obtained during auto-combustion of the dried gel comprising thermogravimetric analysis, SEM, NMR and powder x-ray diffraction analysis of the burnt powder obtained after the auto-combustion reaction.