Influence of bismuth content on complex immittance characteristics of pressureless sintered BiNbO4 ceramics

Abstract

Goal of the present research was to study immittance properties of BiNbO4 ceramics fabricated by the solid state reaction route followed by pressureless sintering. Four sets of samples were examined, namely the one fabricated from the stoichiometric mixture of oxides, viz. Bi2O 3 and Nb2O5 as well as the ones with an excess of 3%, 5% and 10% by mole of Bi2O3. The immittance properties were studied by impedance spectroscopy. Measurements were carried out within the frequency range T =20Hz-1MHz and temperature range T =RT-550°C. The Kramers-Kronig data validation test was employed in the impedance data analysis. It was found that complex impedance first increases with an increase in Bi2O3 content and decreases for 10mol% excess of Bi2O3. Two relaxation phenomena manifested themselves at elevated temperature (T >267°C) within the measuring frequency range. The conductivity relaxation phenomenon (M′′(v) spectra) took place at higher frequency than the phenomenon with dominant resistive component (Z′′(v) spectra).