Effect of HCl on the PPO assisted sol-gel synthesis of olivine-type Co2SiO4 ultrafine particles

Olivine-type Co2SiO4 ultrafine particles were synthesized by a sol-gel method using propylene oxide as a gelation agent. Owing to the high homogeneity of the intermediate gel precursor, the usage of this epoxide method results in a substantial reduction of calcination temperature and time as compared with the solid-state route, and a great reduction of calcination time as compared with other wet-chemistry routes. This high homogeneity is obtained by the usage of an appropriate amount of HCl, as a catalyst that matches the rate of hydrolysis of TEOS and the metal ions, allowing the formation of Si–O–Co bonds.