Synthesis of RuO2 and SrRuO3 powders by means of aqueous solution gel chemistry

Abstract

Phase pure RuO2 and SrRuO3 powders were obtained by a water-based solution-gel route. By reacting ruthenium(III)acetylacetonate with H2O2 in a citric acid solution, a stable aqueous Ru-precursor solution could be prepared. An aqueous Sr-precursor is synthesized by dissolving Sr acetate in a citric acid solution. After mixing the Ru-precursor with the Sr-precursor solution in stoichiometric quantities, a clear aqueous solution for the preparation of SrRuO3 could be obtained. Gelation resulted in amorphous precursors that were homogeneous down to nanoscale as was confirmed by means of transmission electron microscopy. With the appropriate thermal treatment phase pure RuO2 and SrRuO3 powders were synthesised as verified by X-ray diffraction. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.