Solvent Free Production of Alkaline Earth Metal Titanates for Electronics Applications

The objectives of this Phase II research project are to:  (1) develop

and optimize a continuous, easily scalable, and economical green manufacturing

process for production of barium titanate (BaTiO3); (2) characterize and control

physical and chemical properties of the titanate material for improved electronic

properties; and (3) develop a commercially viable product including establishment

of associated procedures and processes per an ISO 9001-2000 quality system.  This

effort is critically needed to develop commercially viable nanocrystalline

BaTiO3 for applications in an increasing electronics market.  The synthetic

methods utilize a small amount of solvent, but allow for precise control over

the crystal properties of the titanate product.  Based on cost and performance,

one of these two methods will be selected for development of a commercial BaTiO3

product.

The commercial application of the BaTiO3 is broad and spans a number of significant

markets, including multilayer ceramic capacitors, electro-optic devices, capacitor

material in small portable machines and dynamic random access memory, thermistor,

military uses, and medical applications.  These market applications, representing

an initial subset of the ever-expanding market opportunities for titanate materials,

currently are being evaluated.  Those that are most promising will be

pursued by NanoScale Materials, Inc., and its collaborative industry partners.