Microwave assisted synthesis of Ba(Zn < inf > 1/3 < /inf > Ta < inf > 2/3 < /inf > )O < inf > 3 < /inf > nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanoparticles of Ba(Zn1/3Ta2/3)O3 (BZT) were synthesized using microwave assisted heating of the corresponding oxide reagents at a lower temperature for short durations. The effect of microwave heating on high temperature synthesis of materials like BZT has been demonstrated and it is an attractive alternative to conventional heating method. The microwave heating is found to have a marked effect on nucleation and it is very fast when performed with microwave heating resulting in highly uniform particles. The microstructure of BZT reveals that the average particle size of BZT nanoparticles is 40 nm. The nanoparticles of BZT are subjected to ball milling for 4 h in order to achieve higher density at lower sintering temperature. The structural and microwave dielectric studies has been carried out for samples sintered at the temperature of 1550°C. The structural studies were correlated with microwave dielectric properties of BZT. The increase in Qxfo value is attributed to the 1:2 long-range ordering of Zn-Ta in the direction of < 100 > and < 111 > as well as suppression of secondary phase of Ba8ZnTa6O24 with stabilized grain growth.