Structural, morphological and dielectric properties of ErNbO4 prepared by the sol-gel method

Abstract

In this work, ErNbO4 samples were prepared using the sol-gel method, through the citrate route, and heat-treated at temperatures between 700 and 1600 °C. The structure was studied by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The crystallite size was estimated using the Rietveld refinement and the Sherrer's formula, presenting values from 31.27 to 86.65 nm and from 40.96 to 78.23 nm, respectively. The morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The measurement of the complex permittivity was made using the small perturbation technique, with a cavity operating in TE105 mode, at resonant frequency of 2.7 GHz. The increase of the treatment temperature promoted the increase of the dielectric constant and the dielectric losses were still maintained with low values, allowing their potential application in electric storage devices. The dielectric constant of ErNbO4 in a zero porosity sample case was estimated and compared with the experimental values.