Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The red, tetragonal form of lead oxide, alpha-PbO, litharge, and the yellow, orthorhombic form, beta-PbO, massicot, have been synthesized from lead(II) salts in aqueous media at elevated temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the size, morphology, and crystallographic structural forms of the products. The role of impurities in the experimental synthesis of the materials and microstructural variations in the final products are described, and the implications of these observations with respect to the synthesis of different conducting lead oxides and other related materials are discussed.