Structural Characterization of Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 Particles Produced by Different Methods

This article describes structural characterization of the Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) particles produced using the following techniques: topochemical microcrystal conversion (TMC), molten salt synthesis (MSS) and conventional mixed-oxide (CMO). The NBT particles produced by the TMC method showed high-aspect-ratio plate-like grains. However, the NBT particles prepared by the MSS and CMO methods show equiaxial grains of sizes less than approximately one micron. All NBT particles produced by the three techniques had a similar crystal structure, but different grain orientations. The crystal structure results of these particles were confirmed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis, which showed (100) grain growth for NBT produced by the TMC and along (110) for the same NBT compositions produced by the MSS and CMO methods.