ULTRASONIC IRRADIATION ASSISTED SURFACE MODIFIED BARIUM BORATE SYNTHESIS

Barium borates (BaB2O4∙xH2O) are extensively used as a functional additives besides use of its beta form (-BaB2O4 or BBO) in photonic industries. In general, reducing the particle sizes of chemical additives is essential in terms of increasing the effective surface area. Surface modified barium borate nanoparticles were synthesized in this regard via wet method in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation. H3BO3 and BaCl2∙2H2O were used as starting materials. For the size limiting surface modifications, organic and inorganic additives were used to control the particle sizes and other properties. The ultrasonic irradiation of 20 kHz was provided by UIP2000 hdT generator. The effects of ultrasonic irradiation time and amplitude (in relation with power consumption), with and without the additives, on the particle size was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size distribution analysis, zeta potential measurements, and TG-DTA were used to characterize the microstructure, chemical composition, suspension stability, and the particle sizes. We report that organic modification of the particles with the ultrasonic aid reduced the particle sizes from approximately 12 m to 100 nm within 2 h of reaction time. Zeta potential of the nanoparticles was found to be around 30 mV in methanol. With respect to surface modifications of similar barium borate synthesis, ultrasonic irradiation aid was found to be useful in terms of kinetics of size reduction and relatively large-scale synthesis