Determination Optimum B2O3, KCl and NaOH Molar Ratios in the Synthesis of Potassium Borates

Abstract

Borates are attention getting chemical compounds because of their properties which leads them a wide usage area. Being sub-group of borates, potassium borates show non-linear optical properties and owing to this they can find applications in optical modulation, optical switching, optical logic and memory, signal processing. Potassium borates can be used in welding, insulation, metal refining and lubricating oil production applications, also.

In this study, potassium borates were produced from potassium chloride (KCl), sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and boron oxide (B₂O₃) when different molar ratios of B₂O₃ were used to find out the optimum ratio for the synthesis at 80°C and 1 hour of reaction time. The molar ratios of reactants were examined as 1:1:3 (as KCl:NaOH: B₂O₃), 1:1:4, 1:1:5, 1:1:6 and 1:1:7. The identification of products and the effects of different molar ratios on the final product were determined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) methods. According to experimental results, the Santite (KB₅O₈·4H₂O) mineral with powder diffraction file number (pdf) code of 01-072-1688 was produced for all molar ratios whereas the optimum ratios in which highest XRD score was obtained was 1:1:7. 

Keywords

• potassium borates, hydrothermal sythesis, XRD, FT-IR.

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