Synthesis of High Quality LaCoO3 Crystals Using Water Based Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

Lanthanum cobaltite (LaCoO 3) crystalline material is a promising material for its interesting electrical, magnetic, catalytic and thermoelectric properties. In this study, LaCoO 3 powders were synthesized by water based sol-gel method using metal nitrates as precursors and citric acid as the chelating agent at room temperature. The dried powders were amorphous and their thermal decomposition occurs stepwise upon heating to 400 °C. Pure perovskite-type single phase LaCoO 3 polycrystals are formed after heating at 600 °C. The pallets prepared from calcined powers were sintered at 1200 °C and crystalline pallets were characterized for investigation of electrical, optical and thermoelectric properties. The obtained results revealed that the prepared samples were highly crystalline with large cation ordering. The sol-gel method found to be efficient for much production of a lot of crystalline transition metal oxides at low cost.