Effect of co-precipitation synthesis parameters on gadolinium aluminate nanoparticles

Gadolinium aluminate was a perovskite rare earth oxide with stable cubic crystal structure and excellent properties in electricity, magnetism, luminescence and catalysis. Gadolinium aluminate nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation method with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) as dispersant and ammonia as precipitant. The effects of calcination temperature, dispersant content and mother salt solution concentration on the phase changes and particle morphology of precursors were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope(SEM), etc. The results showed that when the calcination temperature was higher than 800 °C, the precursor recrystallized. Gadolinium aluminate nanoparticles with good dispersion and approximate spherical perovskite structure were synthesized when the concentration of mother salt solution was 0.3 mol/L, the content of dispersant was 2% and calcined at 1100 °C for 2 h.