• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.30 no.12
• /
• pp.3011-3015
• /
• 2009

Structural and thermo-analytical studies were carried out to understand the phase formation kinetics of the single phase $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ (BTFO) nanocrystals in $Bi_2O_3-Fe_2O_3-TiO_2$, during the polymerized complex (PC) synthesis method. The crystallization of Aurivillius phase $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ layered perovskite was found to be initiated and achieved under the temperature conditions in the range of ${\sim}$800 to 1050$^{\circ}C$. The activation energy for grain growth of $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ nanocrystals (NCs) was very low in case of NCs formed by PC (2.61 kJ/mol) than that formed by the solid state reaction (SSR) method (10.9 kJ/mol). The energy involved in the phase transformation of Aurivillius phase $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ from $Bi_2O_3-Fe_2O_3-TiO_2$ system was ${\sim}$ 69.8 kJ/mol. The formation kinetics study of $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ synthesized by SSR and PC methods would not only render a large impact in the nanocrystalline material development but also in achieving highly efficient visible photocatalysts.