| Abstract: | A facile route to prepare lithium niobate (LiNbO3) powders was proposed by an alternative solid‐state method. Stoichiometric Li2C2O4 and ammonium niobium oxalate were mixed with small amounts of water and then dried at room temperature. It was demonstrated that LiNbO(C2O4)2]·n H2O intermediate was produced by an ion‐exchange reaction. Pure LiNbO3 powders were successfully synthesized by heating the intermediate at 500, 600 and 700 °C for 3 h. X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV‐Vis diffuse reflectance (UV‐Vis) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis were used to characterize the precursor compound and as‐prepared samples. XRD results reveal that all the products are identified as hexagonal structure with high relative crystallinity (>87%). The particle size is found to be about 40 nm for the mixture calcined at 500 °C according to XRD data, which is in good agreement with SEM data. The as‐prepared LiNbO3 powders by this method are high quality according to FTIR spectra. (Li0.996Nb0.005)Nb0.999O3 phase was formed when the calcination temperature was raised to 800 °C. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
