Solution derived 12CaO·7Al2O3 thin films on MgO(1 0 0) substrate

12CaO·7Al2O3 (C12A7) is known as a component of alumina cement and shows various remarkable properties: generation of high oxidizing power using oxygen radical O−, high electric conductivity (∼1500 S cm−1) for the electron clathrated one, etc. Most of the C12A7 thin film fabrication processes reported have been based on PLD method so far, which require high vacuum level and high energy consumption. In order to fabricate the C12A7 films with low energy consumption process, we prepared C12A7 films on MgO(1 0 0) substrate by chemical solution deposition (CSD) method from alkoxide solution. Aluminum sec.-butoxide and calcium metal were used as raw materials, and 2-methoxy ethanol was used as a solvent. Crystallization behavior, crystal structure, and morphology of the prepared film, were investigated by XRD, SEM, and TG-DTA. The C12A7 film prepared by the CSD method was mostly polycrystalline, but it showed high peak intensity at (2 1 1) and (4 2 2) reflection compared to the powder C12A7 peaks. This implied the C12A7 film includes slightly (2 1 1) oriented grains among the polycrystalline on the MgO(1 0 0) substrate.