Chemical approaches to the design of oxide materials

Abstract

Chemical methods of synthesis play a crucial role in designing and discovering new and novel materials and in providing less cumbersome methods for preparing known materials. Chemical methods also enable the synthesis of metastable materials which are otherwise difficult to prepare. In this presentation, the various innovative chemical methods of synthesising oxide materials will be briefly reviewed with emphasis on soft-chemical routes. Electrochemical synthesis, ion-exchange method, alkali-flux method and some of the intercalation reactions will be highlighted, besides topochemical aspects of solid state synthesis. Cuprate superconductors as well as intergrowth structures will also be examined.