Critical Role of Wet Milling for the Synthesis of Single-Phase Pr2Ru2O7 and Evaluation of Its Crystallite Size

Abstract

Pyrochlore oxides, such as Pr₂Ru₂O₇, have attracted a lot of interest due to their unique magnetic properties and possible applications in technology. However, the conventional synthesis techniques are often complicated and expensive. In this work, the significant role of the wet milling method in synthesizing single-phase Pr₂Ru₂O₇ was evaluated together with the determination of the crystallite size. Two types of samples were synthesized: Sample-1 via manual hand grinding and Sample-2 using wet ball milling. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the structural properties of samples, followed by Rietveld refinement analysis. Furthermore, the crystallite size was estimated using the Debye–Scherrer equation. Sample-1 showed multiphase with 8.6% of RuO₂ as secondary phase, whereas Sample-2 exhibited a single-phase Pr₂Ru₂O₇ structure with space group Fd-3m. The crystallite size of Sample-2 was 36.50 ± 3.31 nm, comparable to that produced by more advanced synthesis techniques. From this result, wet ball milling significantly enhances phase purity and provides a feasible, low-cost alternative for synthesizing high-quality Pr₂Ru₂O₇ pyrochlore oxide.