Effect of calcination conditions on phase formation and particle size of zinc niobate powders synthesized by solid-state reaction

摘要

A columbite-like phase of zinc niobate, ZnNb_2O_6, has been synthesized by a solid-state reaction via a rapid vibro-milling technique. The formation of the ZnNb_2O_6 phase in the calcined powders has been investigated as a function of calcination conditions by TG-DTA and XRD techniques. Morphology, particle size and chemical composition have been determined via a combination of SEM and EDX techniques. It has been found that single-phase ZnNb_2O_6 powders were successfully obtained for calcination condition of 600 deg C for 2h or 550 deg C for 6h with heating cooling rates of 30 deg C/min. Clearly, this study has demonstrated the potentiality of a vibro-milling technique as a significant time-saving method to obtain single-phase ZnNb_2O_6 nanopowders (approx 50-300nm) at low calcination temperature.