For the synthesis of oxide nanoceramics, to reduce the powder from its higher oxidation state, it is required to be undergone vacuum reduction. What is the mechanism and how to carry out the process?
Synthesis. A mixture of Bi2O3 (99.99%) and Mn2O3 with an amountof-substance ratio of 1:1 was carefully ground in acetone and dried at 420 K for 3 days. The starting mixture was sealed in Au capsules. Then high-pressure cells, consisting of graphite heaters and dense NaCl-ZrO2 parts surrounding the Au capsules and separating the Au capsules from graphite heaters, were assembled. Just before the highpressure treatment, the high-pressure cells were dried at 370 K for 12 h under a vacuum. The synthesis was performed in a belt-type high pressure apparatus at 6 GPa and 1383 K for 60-70 min. After heat treatment, the samples were quenched to rt, and the pressure was slowly released. The resultant samples were black powder. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) showed that the samples were single phased. Singlephased Mn2O3 was prepared by heating commercial MnO2 (99.99%) in air at 923 K for 24 h. Bi2O3 was dried at 570 K before its use. The formation of the powder and single-phased BiMnO3 samples (actually very small single crystals) can be explained by the fact that we used 6 GPa and the much higher synthesis temperature of 1383 K compared with 3-6 GPa and 723-1323 K reported in the literature