Abstract
Na(Nb1−xTax)O3 (NNT, x = 0, 0.05, and 0.10) ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method in the oxygen (O2) and nitrogen (N2) sintering atmospheres, respectively. The phase structure, surface microstructure, dielectric constant (ε), dielectric loss (tan δ), and frequency dispersion of AC conductivity (σac) of the NNT ceramics have been investigated. The results show that the NNT ceramics are of antiferroelectric orthorhombic phase. The values of ε of the NNT ceramics sintered in N2 are larger than those sintered in O2 at all temperatures, and the Curie temperature (TC) of the NNT ceramics sintered in N2 or O2 decreases from about 370 °C to 330 °C as x increases from 0 to 0.10. The electrical conductivity analysis shows that the quasi-static activation energies (Ea) at 1 Hz of the samples sintered in O2 are larger than in N2, especially for x = 0. These results are expected to promote the research and applications of the NNT-based systems.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.