Precisely-controlled synthesis of oxide powders by polymerizable complex method towards high-performance

The "polymerizable complex (PC)" method has been developed to prepare copper based high-T_c superconductors with outstandingly high purity, photocatalysts for water decomposition with high activity and phosphor materials with excellent emission intensities. The PC method is based upon formation of metal complexes and subsequent polyesterification between a hydroxy-caroboxylic acid such as citric acid and a glycol such as propylene glycol, keeping metal species homogeneous on the molecular scale inside the polyester resin precursor. The PC method is also an efficient methodology for testing promising compounds with less tailoring efforts of synthesis for each candidate; a scheme to search for potential phosphors has been demonstrated as a representative example.