Structures, Phase Transformations, and Dielectric Properties of BiTaO4 Ceramics

Inorg Chem. 2016 Nov 21;55(22):11979-11986. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02153. Epub 2016 Nov 10.

Abstract

Low (α)- and high-temperature (β) forms of BiTaO4 have attracted much attention due to their dielectric and photocatalytic properties. In the present work, a third form, the so-called HP-BiTaO4, was synthesized at high temperature and pressure. The phase evolution, phase transformations, and dielectric properties of α- and β-BiTaO4 and HP-BiTaO4 ceramics are studied in detail. β-BiTaO4 ceramics densified at 1300 °C with the microwave permittivity εr ≈ 53, the microwave quality factor Qf ≈ 12070 GHz, and the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency τf ≈ -200 ppm/°C. HP-BiTaO4 ceramics were synthesized at 5 GPa and 1300 °C followed by annealing at 600 °C. In contrast with the α phase, HP-BiTaO4 exhibited εr ≈ 195 at 1 kHz to 10 MHz, accompanied by a low dielectric loss of ∼0.004. The relation between structure and dielectric properties is discussed in the context of Shannon's additive rule and bond theory.