Shape control and spectroscopy of crystalline BaZrO₃ perovskite particles

Rational control over the shape of perovskite metal oxides has been achieved for single-crystalline BaZrO₃ particles through a convenient, simplistic, large-scale molten salt synthetic methodology. The evolution of particle morphology from predominantly cubes to a mixture of cubes and spheres and finally to solely spheres has been demonstrated by increasing annealing/reaction times at suitable annealing temperatures, all other parameters being equal. Rationally controlling the shape of perovskite oxides is of great importance due to their strongly structure-dependent physical properties. As-prepared, rare-earth ion-doped submicron-scale samples possess a noticeably higher photoluminescence (PL) efficiency as compared with bulk, and in particular, spheres evince a better PL signal as compared with cubes.