Growth of large unitary (K,Na)NbO3 single crystals using a seed-free solid-state crystal growth method by adjusting the B-site excess ratios and additional Bi2O3

Abstract

We adjusted the B site excess ratio and the quantity of additional Bi2O3 in the KNN calcined powder in order to establish a process to fabricate, (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN)-based single crystals, with large and uniform configurations and relatively stable low porosity, using the seed-free solid-state crystal growth method. When the activity of abnormal grain growth during sample heating was controlled appropriately by adding 0.5 wt% Bi2O3 into the calcined powder with a B site excess ratio of 1%, extraordinarily large unitary rectangular single crystals were grown successfully. The individual crystals started to grow from the nucleus around the center of the green compacts formed by the calcined powder. Then they expanded until they became larger than 15 × 15 mm2 by heating at 1060 °C for 15 h. The relative density of the fabricated single crystals was higher than 99%.