Batch synthesis of rare-earth nickelates electronic phase transition perovskites via rare-earth processing intermediates

The rare-earth nickelates(RENiO_(3)) exhibit an exceptional complex electronic phase diagram and multiple electronic phase transitions that enrich promising applications in correlated electronic devices beyond conventional semiconductors.Nevertheless,the practical applications of RENiO_(3) are challenged by their intrinsic thermodynamic metastability in material synthesis and high material cost.Therefore,developing an economical strategy to achieve the batch synthesis of RENiO_(3) is of vital importance.In this work,we enlarged the synthesis amount of RENiO_(3) up to 20 g per batch using chloride(KCI) assisted molten salt reaction.By optimizing the reaction conditions,the powder of RENiO_(3) with the cubic shape and average size of ~2μm was effectively synthesized,while their phase purity exceeded 95%.In addition,the cost to synthesize RENiO_(3) was further reduced by using rare-earth extraction intermediate products as the raw materials,instead of using the pure rare-earth precursors.It also achieved wide adjustments in the metal-to-insulator-transition temperature from160 to 420 K without significantly reducing the transition sharpness.By enlarging the synthesis amount and the reducing the cost,it paves the way to the device application of RENiO_(3).