Cubic phase stabilization of Barium titanate nanorods by rapid quenching technique

Stabilization of high temperature cubic phase of BaTiO₃ at room temperature is established by rapid quenching of the surfactant assisted sonochemically synthesized BaTiO₃ after calcination for 2 h at 800 °C. The quenched BaTiO₃ is stabilized to cubic phase at room temperature in contrast to the BaTiO₃ obtained by normal cooling at a rate of 1 °C/min, which exists in the tetragonal phase at room temperature. BaTiO₃ prepared by the same synthetic procedure but two different heat treatment methods possesses almost similar morphology (i.e.) 1-dimensional nanorod structure but with different aspect ratio. Quenching prevents the low temperature phase transformation c→t from occurring by providing a narrow window of time in which the reaction is both thermodynamically favourable and kinetically accessible.