Patent ID: 7867471

Claim:
A process of producing a ceramic powder comprising: providing a plurality of precursor materials in solution, wherein each of the plurality of precursor materials in solution further comprises at least one constituent ionic species of a ceramic powder; combining the plurality of precursor materials in solution with an onium dicarboxylate precipitant solution to cause co-precipitation of the ceramic powder precursor in a combined solution; and separating the ceramic powder precursor from the combined solution, wherein the onium dicarboxylate comprises a tertiary sulfonium having general formula (III): wherein in formula (III), R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are each independently an alkyl group containing from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms, a hydroxyalkyl or an alkoxyalkyl group containing from 1 to about 20, substituted or unsubstituted aryl groups or hydroxyaryl groups containing from 6 to 18 ring carbon atoms, when substituted, said substitution comprises one or more substituent selected from any of the foregoing alkyl, hydroxyalkyl or alkoxyalkyl groups, or R 1 and R 2 or R 3 together with A may form a heterocyclic group provided that if the heterocyclic group contains a C═S group, R 3 is the second bond.