Dielectric Properties of PbNb2O6 up to 700°C from Impedance Spectroscopy

Piezoelectric materials have wide band gap and no inversion symmetry. Only the orthorhombic phase of lead metaniobate (PbNb2O6) can be ferroelectric and piezoelectric below Curie temperature, but not the rhombohedral phase. High temperature piezoelectric applications in current decades have revived international interest in orthorhombic PbNb2O6, synthesis of which in pure form is difficult and not well documented. Second problem is that its impedance spectroscopy (IS) data analysis is still incomplete. Present work attempts to fill up these two gaps. Presently found synthesis parameters yield purely orthorhombic PbNb2O6, as checked by X-ray Rietveld analysis and TEM. Present 20 Hz to 5.5 MHz IS from room temperature to 700°C shows its ferroelectric Curie temperature to be one of the highest reported, >574°C for 0.5 kHz and >580°C for 5.5 MHz. Dielectric characteristics and electrical properties (like capacitance, resistance and relaxation time of the equivalent CR circuit, AC and DC conductivities, and related activation energies), as derived here from a complete analysis of the IS data, are more extensive than what has yet been reported in the literature. All the properties show sharp changes across the Curie temperature. The temperature dependence of activation energies corresponding to AC and DC conductivities has been reexamined.