A Sucrose‐Mediated Sol–Gel Technique for the Synthesis of MgO – Y ₂ O ₃ Nanocomposites

A sucrose‐mediated aqueous sol–gel procedure was developed to synthesize MgO – Y 2 O 3 nanocomposite ceramics for potential optical applications. The synthesis involves the generation of a precursor foam containing Mg 2+ and Y 3+ cations via the chemical and thermal degradation of sucrose molecules in aqueous solution. Subsequent calcination and crushing of the foam gave MgO – Y 2 O 3 nanocomposites in the form of thin mesoporous flake‐like powder particles with uniform composition and surface areas of 27–85 m 2 g − 1 , depending on calcination conditions. The flakes exhibited a homogeneous microstructure comprising intimately mixed nanoscale grains of the cubic MgO and Y 2 O 3 phases. This microstructure was resistant to grain coarsening with average grain sizes of less than 100 nm for calcination temperatures of up to 1200°C. The results indicate that the sucrose‐mediated sol–gel process is a simple effective method for making nanoscale mixed oxides.