Synthesis of lead-free piezoelectric powders by ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal method and properties of sintered (K0.48Na0.52)NBO3 ceramics

(K,Na)NbO3 ceramics have attracted much attention as lead-free piezoelectric materials with high piezoelectric properties. High-quality (K,Na)NbO3 ceramics can be sintered using KNbO3 and NaNbO3 powders synthesized by a hydrothermal method. In this study, to enhance the quality factor of the ceramics, high-power ultrasonic irradiation was employed during the hydrothermal method, which led to a reduction in the particle size of the resultant powders.

Ultrasonically assisted hydrothermal synthesis of nanocrystalline ZrO2, TiO2, NiFe2O4 and Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 powders

Ultrasonic-hydrothermal and hydrothermal treatment was used for synthesis of nanocrystalline zirconia, titania, nickel and nickel-zinc ferrites powders from precipitated amorphous zirconyl, titanyl, binary nickel-iron and ternary nickel-zinc-iron hydroxides, respectively. Resulted nanopowders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption (BET), and magnetic susceptibility measurements. It was established that ultrasonically assisted hydrothermal treatment of amorphous zirconyl and titanyl gels results in significant rise of the rate of ZrO2 and TiO2 crystallization and promotes formation of thermodynamically stable monoclinic zirconia, but does not affect the microstructure and mean particles size of resulting nanopowders. Ultrasonic-hydrothermal processing of co-precipitated amorphous nickel, zinc and iron hydroxides favours formation of nanocrystalline ferrite powders with narrower particle size distribution.