Combinatorial preparation of solid-state materials by injection moulding

A new combinatorial technique has been developed for the parallel synthesis of multi-component solid-state inorganic materials. As an example to illustrate the utility of this new method, a phase relationship investigation for the ternary system Fe2O3–TiO2–Al2O3, is presented with a much wider composition range in comparison with the previous investigations by conventional means. The combinatorial composition spreading in a ternary system was realized by three combined triangular pyramid-shaped layers produced by the injection moulding technique in the final shape of a triangular prism, followed by a subsequent dividing and mixing process. The consistency of the phase relationship analyzed by XRD with the previous reports proved the reliability of the new combinatorial strategy. The samples were also characterized by SEM and ICP-AES.