Influence of zirconium doping on structure,microstructure, dielectric and impedance properties of strontium bismuth niobate ceramics

Efforts have been made in this work to enhance the dielectric properties of SrBi₂Nb₂O₉ (SBN) by partial substitution of Zr⁴⁺ for Nb⁵⁺. Systematic investigations on structure, microstructure, dielectric and impedance properties of the SrBi₂(Nb_2?(4/5)xZr_x)O₉ where, x = 0, 0.1 and 0.2] ceramic samples were carried out to understand the effect of substitution of Zr⁴⁺ for Nb⁵⁺ in SrBi₂Nb₂O₉. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) investigations indicated that the lattice volume of SrBi₂(Nb_{2? (4/5)x}Zr_x)O₉ with x = 0.1 and 0.2 decreases compared to SBN. The SEM investigations revealed an increase in the size of grains and the change on shape of grains to elongated plate shaped structure with the increase of x (x = 0.1 and 0.2) in SrBi₂(Nb_2?(4/5)xZr_x)O₉. Higher Curie temperature and enhanced peak dielectric constant at the Curie temperature were observed for both the SrBi₂(Nb_2?(4/5)xZr_x)O₉ with x = 0.1 and 0.2 ceramic samples compared to SBN. Among the investigated compositions the higher Curie temperature and enhanced peak dielectric constant at the Curie temperature was observed for SrBi₂(Nb_2?(4/5)xZr_x)O₉ with x = 0.1.