Metal oxide ceramic materials are usually manufactured from inexpensive starting materials via conventional powder processing that involves heating a mixture of metal oxide powders at temperatures up to 1500°C. The desire for greener less-energy consuming processes as well as advanced materials with improved chemical and physical properties has led to the development of new preparative methods consisting of the pyrolysis of appropriate metallo-organic precursors at significantly lower temperatures. The M&M process is a hybrid method that combines some of the positive attributes of the precursor and ceramic methods. This economical method allows the synthesis of nickel and zinc ferrites at temperatures as low as 750°C by using a metal-organic compound to coat iron oxide powders (the chocolate center) with a continuous film of metal oxide (the candy shell). Metal(II) gluconate, MEEA, acetate and acetylacetonate salt were utilized to prepare the metal oxide shells and were found to influence the MFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> microstructure. It was discovered that the specific solid state mechanism for reaction between the iron oxide center and metal oxide shell could be utilized to generate fine nanocrystalline aggregates.

M&M process for ferrite synthesis

251st National Meeting (2016)

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