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A facile chemical route to prepare Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 powders and microwave dielectric materials

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for dielectric, electronic, magnetic and ferroelectric applications
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Abstract

High-purity Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 powders with perovskite structure, which were employed to prepare microwave dielectric ceramics, were produced by a facile chemical route from a solution containing neodymium oxide, zinc nitrate hexahydrate, cobalt nitrate hexahydrate, tetrabutyl titanate, citric acid, and ethylene glycol based on a citrate precursor process. Furthermore, the sintering behavior, microstructure, and microwave dielectric properties of Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 ceramics were evaluated. XRD and FT-IR results showed that the polymeric precursor could directly transform into Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 powders without forming any intermediate phase. TEM results revealed that the as-obtained powders after calcination treatment at 800 °C were approximately spherical in shape and slightly agglomerated with an average particle size of 15 nm. Typical microwave dielectric properties of εr = 35.26, Q × f = 236,800 GHz (f = 9.52 GHz), and τf = –28.6 ppm/°C were achieved for the Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 ceramics with a relative density of 98.7% sintered at 1250 °C for 2 h.

The nanostructured Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 powders synthesized by a facile chemical route based on the citrate precursor exhibit high sintering ability and slightly agglomerated, which are attributed to the reduction of sintering temperature and improvement of microwave dielectric properties of the bulk ceramics.

Highlights

  • Single phase Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 powders were produced by the citrate precursor process.

  • Nanoparticles prepared by the citrate precursor method possess high sinterability.

  • High-quality microwave ceramics can be prepared at low sintering temperature.

  • Citrate precursor route is an energy-efficient and simple method to prepare oxide ceramics.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Provincial Education Department (Grant no. KJ2019A0054 and KJ2018A0041) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51802003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243032, PR China

    Jiamao Li, Chuimin Zhang, Hao Wang & Chuangang Fan

  2. Key Laboratory of Metallurgical Emission Reduction & Resources Recycling, Ministry of Education, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, PR China

    Jiamao Li

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Li, J., Zhang, C., Wang, H. et al. A facile chemical route to prepare Nd[(Zn0.7Co0.3)0.5Ti0.5]O3 powders and microwave dielectric materials. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 95, 375–383 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05306-y

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