From rocksalt to perovskite: a metathesis route for the synthesis of perovskite oxides of current interest

Solid state metathesis reactions between lithium containing rocksalt metal oxides and appropriate lanthanum/alkaline earth metal oxychloride/chloride provide a convenient route for the synthesis of several perovskite oxides of current interest, such as LaCoO3, LaMnO3, AMnO3 and ATiO3 (A = Ca, Sr, Ba). Similarly, metathesis reactions between Li2TiO3/Li2ZrO3 and PbSO4 (instead of PbCl2) yield PbTiO3, PbZrO3 and PbZr1 − xTixO3 perovskites. BaPbO3 and superconducting BaPb0.75Bi0.25O3 could also be synthesized by the metathesis reaction between Li2PbO3/Li2(Pb,Bi)O3 and Ba(OH)2·8H2O. Uniformly in all cases, the perovskite oxides were obtained in the form of loosely connected submicron sized particles at considerably lower temperatures than those usually employed for their synthesis by ceramic methods.