A new synthetic route to obtain high-purity
strontium titanate, SrTiO3, using the sol–gel-hydrothermal
reaction of TiCl4 and a SrCl2 solution in an oxygen
atmosphere has been developed. In the synthesized products
the SrTiO3 nanoparticles are nearly spherical and
decrease in size with the reaction time (48 h) down to a
diameter of about 40 nm. The microstructure and composition
of the as-synthesized samples were investigated by
X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM),
Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and
energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). All the
samples were identified as cubic perovskite phase.This work has been partially financed by
FONDECYT Grant under contract No 1080401. The authors thank
the Facultad de Ciencias Fı´sicas y Matema´ticas of the Universidad de
Chile for the use of their analytical equipment (XRD, TEM, and
XPS). R.A.Z. acknowledges FUNDACION ANDES Grant under
contract No C-13876
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