Co-precipitation synthesis of lutetium aluminum garnet (LuAG) powders: The influence of ethanol

Aluminum Garnet (LuAG) precursors were co-precipitated by using ethanol–water as the precipitant solvent. The effect of different volume ratios of ethanol to water ( R ) on the preparation of pure-phase LuAG powders has been mainly studied. The evolution of phase, composition and micro-structure of the as-synthesized LuAG powders were characterized by TG/DTA, FTIR , XRD , BET, and SEM. The BET-equivalent diameter of LuAG nano particles increased with R . The ethanol–water solvent does not change the main composition of the LuAG precursors, but has great influence on the morphology of the final LuAG nano particles . Uniformly dispersed LuAG powders calcined at 1200 °C for 3 h with a particle size of approximately 120 nm were obtained by using ethanol–water solvent with proper R  = 1. The mechanism of ethanol in the preparation process was discussed.