Structure and relaxor ferroelectric behavior of the novel tungsten bronze type ceramic Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30

Abstract

This paper reports a novel lead-free tungsten bronze type ceramic, Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30, prepared by a conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction route. The crystal structure identified using synchrotron x-ray diffraction data and Raman spectroscopy for Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30 could be described as an average structure with the centrosymmetric space group P4/mbm and a local non-centrosymmetric structure at room temperature. In the second-harmonic generation measurement, the Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30 compound exhibits second-order nonlinear optical behavior, which suggests the material is ferroelectric. Temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity indicates that the dielectric anomaly in Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30, associated with the disorder on the A and B sites, results in strong frequency dispersion with a low phase-transition temperature. A macroscopic and phenomenological statistical model was employed to describe the temperature dependence of the dielectric responses of Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30 and Sr6Ti2Nb8O30. The calculated sizes of polar nanoregions for both compounds imply structural disorder induced by A and B sites, giving rise to a more diffuse ferroelectric transition for Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30. The smaller polar nanoregions with smaller electrical dipole moments can be activated at lower temperatures, leading to Sr5BiTi3Nb7O30 having a lower Tm (∼260 K) than other tungsten bronze type ferroelectrics. This work charts a promising feasible route to the development of improved relaxor ferroelectrics in tungsten bronze type oxides.