Visit to the fascinating world of nano-ceramic powders via solution-combustion

Soft-chemical routes play an important role in preparation of nano-materials. In particular, the combustion synthesis has emerged as a promising solution-chemistry route for synthesizing a variety of oxide ceramics in the nano-crystalline form. In this review article, the potential of this technique for preparation of a few oxide ceramics viz. yttria, barium polytitanates, barium and strontium thorate, strontium cerates powders has been presented. The role of process parameters in controlling the powder characteristics has also been established. These powders were characterized in terms of X-ray diffraction, surface area analysis, electron microscopy and sinterability. This process was shown to be a simple and cost effective, which results in the phase pure, nano-crystalline powders having high surface area and better sinterability. These combustion-synthesized sinter-active powders achieved near the theoretical density, while retaining the fine grain microstructure.