Removing the continuous phase of a Pickering emulsion of partially miscible liquids by selective evaporation provides a one-step route to assembling colloidal particles into a cellular network.
Amorphous spherical particles of magnesium and potassium niobates were produced by homogeneous precipitation in solutions of magnesium and potassium salts, respectively, in the presence of polymeric niobium oxo-hydroxide ions. At pH 9 solids of definitive compositions were achieved and converted to crystalline powders of MgNb2O6 and KNbO3 on calcination. Chemical mechanisms for the formation and transformation of such colloidal particles are offered.