Synthesis of highly crystalline phase pure calcium metastannate by molten salt method

Calcium metastannate CaSnO₃ with orthorhombic crystal system has been synthesized at low temperature by molten salt method using KCl-LiCl as a reaction medium and equimolar of SnO₂ and CaCO₃ as precursors. The process parameters including the reaction temperature, salt type, and salt to precursor weight ratio were investigated. Rietveld refinements on X-ray powder diffraction patterns were performed using X'Pert HighScore Plus software to calculate phase percent of each phase present in the obtained powder. The results of these calculations were followed in order to choose the salt system that requires the least reaction temperature to produce the highest CaSnO₃ percent. The as-prepared compound was characterized by various techniques such as X-Ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-Ray spectrometry (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The experimental results showed that highly crystalline phase pure CaSnO₃ laminar plates could be prepared at 1000 °C for short period of time without any other detectable secondary phases.