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This is a repository copy of Spark plasma texturing: A strategy to enhance the electromechanical properties of lead-free potassium sodium niobate ceramics.

Conformal atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique is employed to make semi-transparent Ta3N5, providing the possibility to build semi-transparent oxy(nitride) heterojunction photoanodes on conductive substrate. A generalized approach was developed to...

Alkali tantalates and niobates are listed as important photocatalysts for the development of renewable energy technologies and environmental remediation. Herein, the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye in aqueous solution by using highly crystalline particles with perovskite-like structures, LiTaO , LiNbO , NaTaO , NaNbO , KNbO , and KTaO , is investigated. It is demonstrated that ferroelectric KNbO is the most efficient photocatalyst of those tested because it combines an electronic band structure that can respond successfully to UVA light with a relatively high surface energy that enhances the catalytic properties. Additionally, the built-in electric field due to internal polarization of ferroelectric particles may contribute to the unique properties of this functional photocatalyst. This work provides an ideal platform for the rational design of more efficient ferroelectric-based photocatalytic devices.

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Lead free niobates and tantalates currently form one of the most promising groups of ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics and related materials, with important applications for the next generation of lead free sensors, actuators and microelectromechanical systems (MEMs). In view of their importance, the enthalpies of formation from binary oxide components at 25 °C, measured by high temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry of a set of alkali tantalates and niobates with perovskite-like structures, LiTaO3, LiNbO3, NaTaO3, NaNbO3 and KNbO3 are reported to be -93.kJ/mol for LiTaO3, LiNbO3, NaTaO3, NaNbO3 and KNbO3, respectively. The surface energies of nanocrystalline perovskites of these alkali tantalates and niobates were experimentally determined for the first time by calorimetry. The energies of the hydrated surface are 1.04 ± 0.34, 1.21 ± 0.78, 1.58 ± 0.29, 2.16 ± 0.57 and 2.95 ± 0.59 J/m 2 for LiTaO3, LiNbO3, NaTaO3, NaNbO3 and KNbO3, respectively. The stability of the lead-free perovskites of I-V type is discussed based on their tolerance factor and acid-base chemistry. The formation enthalpy becomes more exothermic (higher thermodynamic stability) and surface energy increases (greater destabilization for a given particle size) with increase in ionic radius of the A-site cation (Li, Na and K) and with increasing tolerance factor. These correlations provide key insights into how lead free niobates and tantalates behave during synthesis and processing;i.e they explain, for example, why KNbO3 and KTaO3 nanoparticles will be thermodynamically more reactive than their Li and Na counterparts. This understanding will facilitate the development of optimized processing techniques and applications.

High-quality potassium tantalate (KTaO3, KT) single crystals are grown by a high-temperature self-flux solution modified method in which potassium carbonate (K2CO3) and boron oxide (B2O3) are utilized as a complex flux. Additions of small amounts of boron oxide, used because of its low melting temperature (450 °C) and tendency to decrease the weight losses, increased the metastable region, requiring lower temperature (≤1300 °C) for the growth of relatively large KT crystals thereby suppressing the K volatilization tendency. By changing the flux composition and flux to solute proportion growth conditions are modified. The as-grown potassium tantalate crystals exhibit a dielectric permittivity of 6600 and dielectric losses of 0.004 at 13 K and 100 kHz. These results suggest a new promising approach for growing relatively large size and high quality single crystals within KT-based system.

If piezoelectric micro-devices based on K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (KNN) thin films are to achieve commercialization, it is critical to optimize the films’ performance using low-cost scalable processing conditions. Here, sol–gel derived KNN thin films are deposited using 0.2 and 0.4 M precursor solutions with 5% solely potassium excess and 20% alkali (both potassium and sodium) excess on platinized sapphire substrates with reduced thermal expansion mismatch in relation to KNN. Being then rapid thermal annealed at 750 °C for 5 min, the films revealed an identical thickness of ~340 nm but different properties. An average grain size of ~100 nm and nearly stoichiometric KNN films are obtained when using 5% potassium excess solution, while 20% alkali excess solutions give the grain size of 500–600 nm and (Na + K)/Nb ratio of 1.07–1.08 in the prepared films. Moreover, the 5% potassium excess solution films have a perovskite structure without clear preferential orientation, whereas a (100) texture appears for 20% alkali excess solutions, being particularly strong for the 0.4 M solution concentration. As a result of the grain size and (100) texturing competition, the highest room-temperature dielectric permittivity and lowest dissipation factor measured in the parallel-plate-capacitor geometry were obtained for KNN films using 0.2 M precursor solutions with 20% alkali excess. These films were also shown to possess more quadratic-like and less coercive local piezoelectric loops, compared to those from 5% potassium excess solution. Furthermore, KNN films with large (100)-textured grains prepared from 0.4 M precursor solution with 20% alkali excess were found to possess superior local piezoresponse attributed to multiscale domain microstructures.