Parameters effects on the surface morphology and structure of Nd:YAG nanopowders synthesized by co-precipitation method

In recent years, many attempts are made to produce Nd:YAG rods from its nanopowders instead of single crystals because of difficulties and complications of the crystal growth. The quality of new rods is strongly depended on the grain size and agglomeration amount of primary nanopowders. Co-precipitation method is one of the applicable methods to produce Nd:YAG powders with nano sizes; however, with usual co-precipitation method, the grains size are large and the agglomeration amount is high yet. This method contains different steps and parameters that any change of them leads in grains morphological and structural variations. This article's purpose was to report the effect of different experimental parameters on controlling the quality of the Nd:YAG nanopowders. Some chemical and physical variations on usual co-precipitation method were designed based on particle growth process analysis and performed. By analyzing the result of performed experiments on the grains properties, a modified co-precipitation method could be achieved. This modified method allows the synthesizing of pure YAG powders with smaller grain size and lower agglomeration in comparison with usual co-precipitation technique. It is claimed that this modified method can be applied for a large number of materials produced by the usual co-precipitation technique.