1. Introduction
In 1949, while studying the Bi
2O
3 – TiO
2 system, B. Aurivillius established the formation of the oxide Bi
4Ti
3O
12 with a perovskite-type structure [
1,
2,
3]. Ten years later, G. Smolensky’s group [
4] discovered the ferroelectric properties of Bi
4Ti
3O
12, which belongs to this class of compounds, after which an intensive stage of studying these compounds began, which can rightfully be called Aurivillius – Smolensky phases (ASPs). The Aurivillius – Smolensky phases coincide with the currently generally accepted name – the Aurivillius phases. This term was first introduced by the authors in the paper [
5]. Subsequently, Subbarao obtained about ten new ASPs, and almost all of them turned out to be ferroelectrics [
6,
7]. Aurivillius – Smolensky phases form a large family of bismuth-containing layered compounds of the perovskite type, the chemical composition of which is described by the general formula Bi
2Am–1BmO
3m+3.
The crystal structure of ASPs includes alternating layers of [Bi
2O
2]
2+, separated by perovskite-like layers of [
Am-1BmO
3m+1]
2–, where the
A-ions have large radii (Bi
3+ [
8], Ca
2+, Gd
3+ [
9], Sr
2+, Ba
2+, Pb
2+, Na
+, K
+, Y
3+ [
10], Ln
3+, Nd
3+ [
11], Lu
3+ [
12] (lanthanides) and demonstrate dodecahedral coordination. The
B-positions in the oxygen octahedra are occupied by highly charged (≥ 3+) small-radius cations (Ti
4+, Nb
5+, Ta
5+ [
13], W
6+ [
14], Mo
6+, Fe
3+, Mn
4+, Cr
3+, Ga
3+ [
15], etc.). The value of
m is determined by the number of perovskite layers [
Am-1BmO
3m+1]
2−, located between the fluorite-like layers of [Bi
2O
2]
2+ along the pseudo-tetragonal
c-axis (001), and can be an integer or half-integer number in the range
m = 1 – 6. Substitutions of atoms in the
A- and
B-positions affect significantly the electrical and physical properties of ASPs. In particular, large changes in the permittivity and electrical conductivity occur; in addition, the Curie temperature
TC can also vary within wide limits. Thus, the study of cation-substituted ASPs compounds is of great importance in the development of materials for various technical purposes (for example, solid-state gas sensors, non-volatile memory elements, solid-state displays, optical switches and storage devices). The replacement of Nb
5+ with a metal cation in the structure of bismuth titanate oxide of the ASPs solid solution family requires compliance with certain criteria.
The first consideration is the balance of the electron charges. Although the principle of equality allows only ions with a charge of 5+ to be exchanged. By mixing impurities, cations with different oxidation states can be used. For example, doping can involve a mixture of 4+ and 6+ ions or various substitutions of A-cation to balance the charges involved.
The second consideration in doping is the size of the ionic radius. The tolerance factor
t of the pseudo-perovskite layer (PPL) is in a smaller range than that of standard perovskite (
t = 0.81 – 0.93 instead of
t = 0.77 – 1.0124, respectively). This means that the ionic radius of the cation in the oxygen octahedron should be in the range of 0.58 – 0.65 Å. The lower limit of this range is caused by the loss of stability of the pseudo-perovskite structure due to the internal deformation that occurs when trying to dope smaller cations. Meanwhile, the upper limit is a result of the potential size mismatch between the pseudo-perovskite (
Am-1BmO
3m+1) and (Bi
2O
2)
2+ layers; if the layers cannot align, a stable structure cannot be formed [
16]. This factor is evident in the case of Ge
4+, whose ionic radius of 0.53 Å is outside the substitution range because the ionic radius is too small. Other examples include Sn
4+, Hf
4+ and Zr
4+, whose ionic radii of 0.69 Å, 0.71 Å and 0.72 Å, respectively, place them outside the above-mentioned (0.58 – 0.65 Å) range, but this time at the opposite end of the scale.
In layered perovskites, the crystal structure cannot change freely upon doping, since doping is limited by the [Bi
2O
2]
2+ interlayer. When Sr
2+ (~143 pm) is replaced in the
A-position by a large Ba
2+ ion (~160 pm), the Curie temperature
TC decreases. When a small Ca
2+ ion (~136 pm) replaces the Sr
2+ ion, the Curie temperature increases. This can be explained by the fact that more space is required to introduce a large ion into the
A-position, despite the increase in the cell parameters. As a result, the mobility of the oxygen octahedron ions decreases, and the Curie temperature
TC decreases. Thus, according to [
17], the Curie temperature
TC for the Bi
2Sr
1-xCa
xNb
2O
9 (CBN) and Bi
2Sr
1-xBa
xNb
2O
9 (BBN) compounds is ~620 °C and ~200 °C, respectively. Such results may explain that the Curie temperature is related to ionic polarization, which in turn is determined by structural distortions. The large difference between the parameters
a and
b for CBN compared to BBN and SrBi
2Nb
2O
9 (SBN) results in a higher Curie temperature
TC [
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27].
Piezoceramic SrBi
2Nb
2O
9 is one of the most promising compounds for creating ferroelectric memory elements, since it is very resistant to external influences [
18]. The effect of ion substitution in perovskite cells both in the crystallographic
A-position and in the
B-position has been the subject of many studies [
22,
28,
29,
30,
31,
32].
The results of the influence of doping on the crystal structure, microstructure, dielectric and electrical properties of layered SBN structures are present in [
33], where Bi
2-xTe
xSr
1-xK
xNb
2O
9 with 0 ≤
x ≤ 0.25 were studied. It was found that the values of the Curie temperature
TC decrease approximately linearly with an increase in the parameter
γ = (
abc)
1/3, that is, the larger the volumes of the pseudooctahedra, the lower the Curie temperature
TC of the studied compounds.
Moreover, in [
33] the replacement of Sr
2+ ions by Ca
2+ and Ba
2+ ions in
A-position and Nb
5+ ions by V
5+ ions in
B-position up to 30 at. % was studied. It was found that the lattice constants, dielectric and electrical properties of SBN ceramics significantly depend on the type and number of doping atoms. It was found that doping with vanadium has a significant effect on the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of doped structures [
34,
35,
36,
37,
38]. In particular, the residual polarization of the SBN ferroelectric, when doped with 10 at. % vanadium, increased from ~2.8 μC/cm
2 to ~8 μC/cm
2, and the coercive field decreased from ~63 kV/cm to ~50 kV/cm. It was also shown that doping of the initial composition with Ca- and V-ions increases the Curie temperature
TC with increasing doping level. On the contrary, doping of the initial composition with V-ions decreases the Curie temperature
TC, and the permittivity at
TC increased almost twice at 10 at. % of V compared to SBN. The study of the permittivity of SrBi
2Nb
2O
9 doped with Mo and Cr and its frequency dependence showed that in the case of both types of doping it increased with increasing concentration of impurity atoms, and the sharpest increase was observed in the region of low concentrations.
In our study, the possibilities of doping the bilayer compound SrBi2Nb2O9 with Sn4+ and W6+ cations are considered.
2. Manufacturing and Experimental Methods
Polycrystalline samples of the SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) of ASPs series were synthesized by solid-phase reaction of the corresponding oxides Bi2O3, SrCO3, Nb2O5, W2O5, SnO2. All the initial compounds were of analytical grade. After weighing according to the stoichiometric composition and thoroughly grinding the initial oxides with the addition of ethyl alcohol, the pressed samples were calcined at a temperature of 840 °C for 4 h. The samples were fired in a laboratory furnace in air. Then the samples were crushed, repeatedly ground and pressed into tablets with a diameter of 10 mm and a thickness of 1.0 – 1.5 mm, followed by final synthesis at a temperature of 1150 °C (3 h).
The
X-ray diffraction pattern was recorded on a Rigaku Ultima IV diffractometer with a Cu
X-ray tube. The Cu
Kα
1,α
2 radiation was isolated from the total spectrum using a Ni-filter. The
X-ray diffraction pattern was measured in the 2θ angle range from 10° to 60° with a scanning step of 0.02° and an exposure (intensity recording time) of 4 s per point. The analysis of the
X-ray diffraction pattern profile, determination of the positions of lines, their indexation (
hkl) and refinement of the unit cell parameters were performed using the PCW 2.4 program [
39].
To measure the permittivity and electrical conductivity, electrodes were applied to the flat surfaces of the ASPs samples in the form of disks with a diameter of 10 mm and a thickness of about 1.5 mm by using Ag paste, annealed at a temperature of 800 °C (for 30 min.). The temperature and frequency dependences of the dielectric characteristics were measured by using an E7-20 immittance meter in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 1 MHz and in the temperature range from room temperature to 750 °C. Microstructure images were obtained by using a Carl Zeiss EVO 40 scanning electron microscope (Germany). The study was carried out on transverse chips of the manufactured ceramics. In the absence of an additional conductive layer, grain blurring and multiple charge accumulation effects were observed. Therefore, to analyze the chip surface, the conductive layer was deposited using an SC7620 MiniSputterCoater magnetron sputtering unit. Before sputtering, the samples were not preliminarily subjected to mechanical treatment. The study was carried out in the high accelerating voltage mode (EHT = 20 kV). To increase the resolution, the probe current was Iprobe = 55 pA, and the working distance WD = 8 – 9 mm.
4. Conclusions
Obviously, the compounds consisting of Aurivillius – Smolensky phases has a great impact on the development and improvement of materials for different technical applications (for example, solid-state gas sensors, non-volatile memory elements, solid-state displays, optical switches and storage devices).
A new series of solid solutions of the ASP SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) was synthesized in this investigation. X-ray diffraction studies showed that all compounds have a structure close to the Aurivillius – Smolensky phases with an orthorhombic unit cell (space group A21am). With an increase in the concentration of WxSnx, the evolution of reflexes and the appearance of new lines in the diffraction pattern are observed. It was found that with an increase in WxSnx, the grain size decreased, and, accordingly, the value of the relative permittivity also decreased. For the entire synthesized series of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) the Curie temperature ТС increased from 417 °С to 455 °С with increasing WxSnx. Microstructural analysis showed that with increasing WxSnx there was a decrease in the lamellar grains, corresponding to the ASP, and an increase in the prismatic grains, corresponding to the pyrochlore phase. At the concentration of WxSnx (x = 0.1) the tangent of the dielectric loss angle decreased by 10 times, compared to SrBi2Nb2O9, which allows using Sn to improve the ferroelectric properties of ASPs compounds.
Figure 1.
Experimental X-ray diffraction patterns of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) ceramics: (a) general picture, (b) fragment of the main reflection 115; (c) fragment of the evolution of the 200/020 line.
Figure 1.
Experimental X-ray diffraction patterns of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) ceramics: (a) general picture, (b) fragment of the main reflection 115; (c) fragment of the evolution of the 200/020 line.
Figure 2.
Surface areas of cleavages at Sn concentrations: (a) x = 0.1, (c) x = 0.2, (e) x = 0.3; histograms of grain size distributions at Sn concentrations: (b) x = 0.1, (d) x = 0.2, (f) x = 0.3.
Figure 2.
Surface areas of cleavages at Sn concentrations: (a) x = 0.1, (c) x = 0.2, (e) x = 0.3; histograms of grain size distributions at Sn concentrations: (b) x = 0.1, (d) x = 0.2, (f) x = 0.3.
Figure 3.
(a) Microstructure of cleavage surface area of material with concentration of Sn equal to x = 0.4 and (b) histogram of grain size distribution.
Figure 3.
(a) Microstructure of cleavage surface area of material with concentration of Sn equal to x = 0.4 and (b) histogram of grain size distribution.
Figure 4.
Temperature dependences of the relative permittivity ε/ε0 and the dielectric loss tangent tan d (inserts) for solid solutions SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9: (a) x = 0.0; (b) x = 0.1; (c) x = 0.2; (d) x = 0.3; (e) x = 0.4 at a frequency from 100 kHz to 1 MHz.
Figure 4.
Temperature dependences of the relative permittivity ε/ε0 and the dielectric loss tangent tan d (inserts) for solid solutions SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9: (a) x = 0.0; (b) x = 0.1; (c) x = 0.2; (d) x = 0.3; (e) x = 0.4 at a frequency from 100 kHz to 1 MHz.
Figure 5.
Mössbauer spectra 119Sn of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) samples at room temperature.
Figure 5.
Mössbauer spectra 119Sn of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) samples at room temperature.
Figure 6.
Dependence of ln σ on 10000/T for SrBi2Nb1.8W0.1Sn0.1O9 at a frequency of 100 kHz.
Figure 6.
Dependence of ln σ on 10000/T for SrBi2Nb1.8W0.1Sn0.1O9 at a frequency of 100 kHz.
Table 1.
Unit cell parameters (a0, b0, c0, V), tetragonal period parameter (at), octahedron height along the c-axis (c′), deviation from cubic shape (δc'), rhombic distortion (δb0). .
Table 1.
Unit cell parameters (a0, b0, c0, V), tetragonal period parameter (at), octahedron height along the c-axis (c′), deviation from cubic shape (δc'), rhombic distortion (δb0). .
Compounds |
a0, Å |
b0, Å |
c0, Å |
V, Å3
|
at,% |
c', Å |
δc',% |
δb0,% |
SrBi2Nb209
|
5.55 |
5.48 |
25.261 |
768.23 |
3.899 |
3.79 |
-2.8 |
-1.2 |
SrBi2Nb1.8W0.1Sn0.109
|
5.49 |
5.45 |
25.16 |
754.20 |
3.87 |
3.77 |
-2.52 |
-0.8 |
SrBi2Nb1.6W0.2Sn0.209
|
5.52 |
5.51 |
25.16 |
766.18 |
3.90 |
3.77 |
-2.52 |
-0.2 |
SrBi2Nb1.4W0.3Sn0.309
|
5.50 |
5.57 |
25.34 |
776.13 |
3.91 |
3.80 |
-2.87 |
1.27 |
SrBi2Nb1.2W0.4Sn0.409
|
5.53 |
5.51 |
25.16 |
766.78 |
3.90 |
3.77 |
-2.87 |
-0.2 |
Table 2.
Dielectric characteristics of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4): Curie temperature TC, tolerance factor t, relative permittivity ε/ε0 and activation energy Ea in high-temperature and low-temperature regions.
Table 2.
Dielectric characteristics of SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4): Curie temperature TC, tolerance factor t, relative permittivity ε/ε0 and activation energy Ea in high-temperature and low-temperature regions.
Compound |
TС, °C |
t |
ε/ε0 (at 100 kHz) |
E1/E2, eV |
SrBi2Nb209
|
455 |
0.9778 |
960 |
0.67/0.06 |
SrBi2Nb1.8W0.1Sn0.109
|
420 |
0.97 |
850 |
0.55/0.076 |
SrBi2Nb1.6W0.2Sn0.209
|
417 |
0.97 |
660 |
0.49/0.26 |
SrBi2Nb1.4W0.3Sn0.309
|
435 |
0.97 |
690 |
0.54/0.13 |
SrBi2Nb1.2W0.4Sn0.409
|
450 |
0.97 |
290 |
0.52/0.093 |
Table 3.
Parameters of Mössbauer spectra 119Sn of samples SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) at room temperature.
Table 3.
Parameters of Mössbauer spectra 119Sn of samples SrBi2Nb2-2xWxSnxO9 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) at room temperature.
x |
Component |
δ ± 0.02, mm/s |
Δ ± 0.02, mm/s |
Γ ± 0.02, mm/s |
A ± 1, % |
0.1 |
D |
0.06 |
0.45 |
0.73 |
100 |
0.2 |
D |
0.06 |
0.43 |
0.72 |
100 |
0.3 |
D |
0.05 |
0.48 |
0.73 |
100 |
0.4 |
D |
0.07 |
0.39 |
0.73 |
100 |