Effect of the Firing Temperatures on the Phase Evolution and Electrical Properties of 0.85[0.94Bi _0.5 Na _0.5 TiO ₃ -0.06BaTiO ₃ ]-0.15[Na _0.73 Bi _0.09 NbO ₃ ] Ceramics Synthesized via the Solid-State Combustion Method

Abstract

In this research paper, we describe 0.85[0.94Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3]-0.15[Na0.73Bi0.09NbO3] (BNT-BT-NBN) ceramics fabricated by the solid-state combustion technique. The phase evolution, microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric and energy storage properties were examined. The BNT-BT-NBN powders and ceramics were calcined and sintered between 650–900 °C and 1100–1175 °C, respectively, for 2 h. All samples showed a typical perovskite structure, as revealed by X-ray diffraction. The Rietveld refinement analysis of the ceramics suggested the samples sintered between 1100 and 1150 °C had coexisting R + T phases, while the R + T+C phases were observed in the ceramics sintered at 1175 °C. The average grain size of the samples increased from 0.52 to 1.39 μm with increased sintering temperature. The density of the ceramics increased from 5.12 to 5.45 g/cm3 when the sintering temperature increased from 1100 to 1150 °C, and then decreased. Increasing the sintering temperature from 1100 to 1150 °C caused the dielectric constant at Ts (εs) and the dielectric constant at Tm (εm) to increase from 1727 to 1945 and 1564 to 1750, respectively, and then εs and εm declined. All BNT-BT-NBN ceramics had good dielectric temperature stability with only a±10% change when the temperature ranged from room temperature to ∼300 °C. The optimum energy-storage properties (Wrec = 0.62 J/cm3 and η = 83.2%) were obtained from the BNT-BT-NBN ceramics sintered at 1150 °C for 2 h. This data indicates that BNT-BT-NBN ceramics can be useful as lead-free materials for high density energy-storage capacitors.