Properties of sol-gel derived strontium barium niobate ceramics and the effect of V2O5 additive

Strontium barium niobate, SrxBa1−xNb2O6, (SBN) ceramics with a range of Sr/Ba ratios were fabricated using a solution chemistry approach with alkoxides dissolved in acetic acid. Powders obtained from dried gels were calcined at 800°C for three hours, a heat treatment that produced fully crystalline powders. After preparing bulk ceramics from these powders by sintering at 1200°C for 1–24 hours, the tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) phase was present in all compositions between 0 ≤ x≤ 1, although not predicted by the phase diagram for BaNb2O6and SrNb2O6. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) additions increased the densification, the amount of tungsten bronze phase, and the dielectric constant for all compositions except for Sr0.65Ba0.35Nb2O6(SBN65) ceramics.