Praseodymium oxide formation by thermal decomposition of a praseodymium complex
Abstract In the present work, the synthesis of the hydrated citrate of Pr by amorphous citrate method under the same conditions used for the preparation of PrBa 2 Cu 4 O 8 system, is reported. The thermal decomposition of the complex was studied in air, nitrogen and oxygen, in order to investigate and identify the final oxides and the intermediates obtained during decomposition. A special attention was paid to the thermal decomposition of the Pr–carbonate octahydrate used in the synthesis as starting material. The experiments were performed by thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy.