Electrorheological properties and structure of (BaTiO(C2O4)2/NH2CONH2)

The core-shell structural (BaTiO(C₂O₄)₂/NH₂CONH₂) samples of giant electrorheological (ER) activity have been synthesized by a sol-gel method and studied by TEM, X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy. From the analysis of the X-ray diffraction, it is found that the component of samples is (BaTiO(C₂O₄)₂/NH₂CONH₂) with a different content of urea. The observations of the TEM morphology show that (BaTiO(C₂O₄)₂/NH₂CONH₂) particles are spheral with a size of around 80 nm and a surface coating with 5-10 nm thickness consisting of urea. The samples show an increasing tend of ER effect as the addition of urea increasing. Moreover, by IR spectroscopy study, it is revealed that some peaks of CO band and C-O band vibrations of BaTiO(C₂O₄)₂ are split into two peaks after urea added. The extent of the splits increase with the increase of urea content, which is resulted by the interaction between the chemical bonds of urea and oxalate of BaTiO(C₂O₄)₂. It is evident that the giant ER activity of the sample has a close relationship with the interfacial polarization between the core and the shell of (BaTiO(C₂O₄)₂/NH₂CONH₂).