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High sintering activity NaNbO3 powder synthesis via the polyacrylamide gel method
and fabrication of a NaNbO3 ceramic at lower temperature

Fen Ye, Xiangping Jiang, Xiaokun Huang, Xin Nie, Chao Chen, Hao Cheng, Renfen
Zeng
PII: S2238-7854(21)01309-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.11.030
Reference: JMRTEC 3921

To appear in: Journal of Materials Research and Technology

Received Date: 12 April 2021

Revised Date: 9 October 2021
Accepted Date: 5 November 2021

Please cite this article as: Ye F, Jiang X, Huang X, Nie X, Chen C, Cheng H, Zeng R, High sintering
activity NaNbO3 powder synthesis via the polyacrylamide gel method and fabrication of a NaNbO3
ceramic at lower temperature, Journal of Materials Research and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jmrt.2021.11.030.

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 High sintering activity NaNbO3 powder synthesis via the

polyacrylamide gel method and fabrication of a NaNbO3 ceramic at

lower temperature
Fen Ye a,b , Xiangping Jiang a,∗, Xiaokun Huang a , Xin Nie a, Chao Chen a, Hao Cheng
b, ∗
, Renfen Zeng a
(1 Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramic Materials, Department of Material
Science and Engineering, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen 333001, Jiangxi,
China
2 College of Material and Chemical Engineering, Tongren University，Tongren
554300, P. R. China.)
∗
Corresponding author: Email (Xiangping Jiang.): jiangxp64@163.com, (Hao Cheng):

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smallone.1@163.com
Abstract: NaNbO3 powder was synthesized via the polyacrylamide gel method,

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growth behaviors and associated morphology were discussed. The calcined NaNbO3
-p
powder at 565 °C possess cubic and long columnar morphology which are NaNbO3
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and Na/Nb/F or Na/Nb/F/O compounds, respectively. According to XRD and SEM, as
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calcined temperature raised, the amount of F in Na/Nb/F or Na/Nb/F/O compounds

gradually reduced, long columnar compounds resolved into cubic NaNbO3. These
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changes made the NaNbO3 powder which calcined at 565 °C obtain highly sintering
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activity, dense NaNbO3 ceramic can sintering at 1200 °C. NaNbO3 ceramic
densification was caused by the large ionic radius O2- replaced the small ionic radius
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F- during the calcining process. Compared with the solid-state reaction method, the
sintering temperature of NaNbO3 ceramic was be reduced in this work, which
contribute for low-temperature sintering technical of NaNbO3 ceramics.
Keywords: NaNbO3; polyacrylamide gel; formation mechanism; highly
sintering-active; low-temperature sintering technical

1 Introduction

There are 7 kinds of crystal phases in NaNbO3 within the temperature range from
640 to -100 °C [1, 2]. These rich structures made NaNbO3 to be widely applied in the
fields of energy storage [3, 4], sensing [5, 6], nonlinear optics [7], photocatalysis
[8-10], pyroelectricity [11], and photovoltaics [12]. It is well known that the
properties of ceramics are affected by their chemical composition and microstructure.
NaNbO3 ceramics should be sintered at high temperatures, alkali metal ions were easy
to volatilized readily, causing the chemical composition of NaNbO3 ceramics to
deviate from their stoichiometric values [13]. In recent years, in order to reduce the
effect of non-stoichiometry to the property of NaNbO3 ceramics by add excess alkali
metal ions when weighed [14] and add sintering aids [15].
Conventionally, NaNbO3 ceramics were sintering by NaNbO3 based powder. It
means, NaNbO3 based powder should be first synthesized. So, the sintering activity of
NaNbO3 based powder play a key role during the NaNbO3 sintering process. The
synthesis methods for NaNbO3 powder are as follows: a conventional solid-state

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reaction [16], the evaporation of a solution of an oxalato-niobium complex [17], the
reaction-sintering method [18], the combustion method [19,20], the hydrothermal

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method [21], and the molten salt method [22]. The NaNbO3 powder synthesized by a
conventional solid-state reaction, the evaporation of a solution of an oxalato-niobium
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complex, the reaction-sintering method and the molten salt method which used to
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fabricate NaNbO3 ceramic. The sintering temperature are 1360 °C, 1250 °C, 1200 °C
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(6 h soak time), and 1280 °C, respectively. Such high sintering temperature and long
soak time will lead more alkali metal ions volatilized. Evaporation of alkali metal ions
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changes the materials properties due to the change of stoichiometry.

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Dense ceramics can be fabricated in lower sintering temperature with lower size
ceramic powders. Fukada [23] have successfully synthesized NaNbO3 nanoparticles
by solvothermal method, and fabricate NaNbO3 ceramic at low temperature. The
coexistence of second phases can benefit for reduced the sintering temperature of
NaNbO3 ceramic. Ruf [24] have research NaNbO3 ceramic fabricate by
non-stoichiometry precursor compositions. They have found coexistence of second
phases Na3NbO4, Na2Nb4O11 and NaNb3O8 made a positive contribution to improve
NaNbO3 sintering. Chao [4] have improved the sintering activity of NaNbO3 powder
by rapid mechanochemical method. The mean particle size, revealed by image
analysis was about 15 nm. The relative density is as high as 98%, but the sintering
temperature is 1365 °C.
The polyacrylamide gel method is an innovative nanoparticle preparation method
that allows components to be mixed evenly at the atomic level. The merit of
polyacrylamide gel method is simple to operation, saves time, and allows for accurate
control of the stoichiometric ratio of the samples [25, 26]. The acrylamide monomer
(AM) and crosslinking agent N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS), under the action of
initiator ammonium persulfate (AP), rapidly forms a gel with a three-dimensional
network that binds the ions in a limited space, and this gel can be dried to obtain a
xerogel. After heat treatment, well-dispersed nanoparticles are obtained. This method
has been used in the preparation of many ceramic nanoparticles. A. Amirshaghaghi
[25] synthesis Al2O3-ZrO2 nanopowder at low temperature. I. N. Hajivar [26] used to

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synthesise Ca1Si9Al3O1N15 (Ca-a-SiAlON) via the polyacrylamide gel method, found
the homogeneity of mixture constituents at molecular level, the soaking time of

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optimal synthesis condition was reduced to 1 h. C. Liu [27] found the formation
temperature of Y3Al5O12 (YAG) significantly reduce via the polyacrylamide gel
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method.
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In this work, it was shown that NaNbO3 ceramic can be obtained at low
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temperatures from highly sintering-active NaNbO3 powder synthesized via the

polyacrylamide gel method. The calcined NaNbO3 powders at 565 °C were used to
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fabricate the NaNbO3 ceramic. Microstructure and growth mechanism were

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discussed.

2 Experimental methods

2.1 Synthesis of the NaNbO3 powder

First, analytical grade Nb2O5 (99.5%, Sinopharm, CHN) and reagent grade HF
(>40%, Sinopharm, CHN) were weighed in a molar ratio of Nb/H=1:20, and the
mixture was poured into a Teflon autoclave. Then, the autoclave was placed in an
oven and heated at 120 °C for 12 h to obtain a mixture of NbF5, HF and H2O. Second,
analytical grade NaCl (99.5%, JiuYi, CHN) was added in a molar ratio of Nb/Na=1:1,
and deionized water was added to bring the volume up to 30 ml. The raw chemicals
were heated at 100 °C for 24 h to control the water content and permit accurate
control of the stoichiometric ratio. Third, the acrylamide monomer (AM, 0.15 g/ml,
XiLong, CHN), N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS, 0.03 g/ml, Sinopharm, CHN) and
ammonium persulfate (AP, 0.03 g/6 ml, Sinopharm, CHN) were added. Fourth, the
mixture was placed in a water bath at 80 °C for 2 h, and the solution was converted
into a wet gel. Fifth, the obtained wet gel was dried at 100 °C for 6 h and converted
into xerogel. Finally, the NaNbO3 powder was calcined at different temperatures. The
detailed preparation process is shown in Fig. 1.

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Fig. 1 The preparation flow chart of NaNbO3 powder via the polyacrylamide gel method.
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The overall chemical reactions that leading to the formation of NaNbO3 powder via
the polyacrylamide gel method according to the infrared spectrum (FT-IR) and XRD
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analysis as follows [26-28]:

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ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙
𝑁𝑏2 𝑂5 + 10𝐻𝐹 → 2𝑁𝑏𝐹5 + 5𝐻2 𝑂 (1)
∆
2𝑁𝑏𝐹5 + 2𝑁𝑎+ + 3𝑂2 →
𝐴𝑀+𝐵𝐼𝑆+𝐴𝑃
2𝑁𝑎𝑁𝑏𝑂3 + 5𝐹2 ↑ (2)

2.2 Preparation of the NaNbO3 ceramic

5% aqueous solution of Polyvinyl alcohol ( JiuYi, CHN) was added into the powder
(pre calcined at 565 °C for 2 h) as a binder for granulation. Disks with diameters of 13
mm were fabricated by uniaxial pressing at 100 MPa before sintering at 1200 °C for 2
h in an air environment without any protection.
2.3 Characterization
The xerogel thermal decomposition properties were studied by thermal
gravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC, air, 5 °C/min, STA449C,
Netzsch, Germany). The location of the metal ions in the polymer was analysed by
infrared spectrum (FT-IR) (Nicolet 5700, Thermo). X-ray diffraction (XRD; Bruker
D8 Advance, Karlsruhe, Germany) was used to determine the crystallographic phases
in the samples in the θ-2θ configuration using Cu Kα radiation (λ=1.541 Å) at room
temperature. The morphology and elemental composition were observed with
SEM/EDS (SU-8010, Japan, 5.0 kV). The dielectric properties were characterized by
an impedance analyser (Agilent 4294A, Agilent Technology Inc., Santa Clara, CA)
over a temperature range from room temperature to 450 °C. The density of the
samples was measured by using the Archimedes method. 5 pieces of NaNbO3
ceramics (diameter:10 mm, thickness:1 mm) used to obtain bulk density. The samples

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should be dry for 24h at 100 °C before weight (dry weight). After that, samples boil
with water for 6h and then soak in room temperature water for 18 h. At last, wet

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weight and hang weight can be obtain. -p
3 Results and Discussion
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3.1 Synthesis and characterization of NaNbO3 powders
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It is well known that AM and the cross-linking agent BIS form a polymer with a
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three-dimensional network under the action of initiator AP [26]. The FT-IR spectra of
the pure xerogel and xerogel calcined at different temperatures are show in Fig. 2. The
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pure xerogel prepared in this paper had all the characteristic functional groups of
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polyacrylamides, as shown in Fig. 2 (a). However, the introduction of Nb5+, Na+, Cl-,
F-, and HF significantly affected the polycondensation reaction of the AM. The
vibration peak of the secondary amine N-H with a wavenumber of approximately
3200 cm-1 broadened and weakened, indicating that some N-H bonds were broken
[31]. The vibrational peak of -CH2 near the wavenumber of 2945 cm-1 disappeared
[32], indicating that during the polymerization process, some C-H bonds were broken
and corresponded to new vibration peaks at wavenumbers of 503 cm-1 and 927 cm-1
[33]. New bands that appeared at approximately 1219 cm-1 and 2350 cm-1 can be
related to the introduction of Na+, Nb5+, and F- through H-C-H or N-C-H with
unshared electron pairs on the nitrogen atoms [26,34], as shown in Fig. 3. The sample
contained multiple phases, chlorine-containing organic compounds appeared, and
Nb5+, Na+, F- were polymerized together with -CH, -NH, -NH2, show in Fig.3. When
the calcine temperature rose to 380 ℃, the C-O and C-H vibration peaks disappeared,
the N-H vibration peak weakened, and the C=O vibration peak strengthened. These
results indicated that the branched functional groups in the chain and other small
molecules in the sample first decomposed and released the gas [35], resulting in
continuous exposure of the bonds related to Nb, F, Na; the corresponding absorption
peak strengthened, as shown in Fig. 2 (d), a broad absorption peak appeared at 674
cm-1 near wavenumbers of 943 cm-1 and 2350 cm-1. When the temperature rose to
445 ℃, the carbonyl and imine groups in the sample continued to decompose and
release gas [32,35], the N-H vibration peak disappeared, the C=O vibration peak

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width weakened, and the vibration peak of the unsaturated carbon bond strengthened,
as shown in Fig. 2 (e). In addition, the Nb-O vibrational absorption peak of the

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<NbO6> structure shows in Fig. 2 (e) [30] which indicated that cubic NaNbO3 began
to form at 445 °C.
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Fig. 2 FT-IR transmittance spectra of samples.

Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of trapped particles in polymeric gel-net (a), and coordinated ions in
polymeric gel-net(b).
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Fig. 4 The TG-DSC-DTA curve of NaNbO3 xerogel and photos of samples calcined at different

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temperature: (b) xerogel, (c) 280 °C, (d) 380 °C, (e) 445 °C, (f) 565°C.
There was no obvious weight loss step from room temperature to 800 °C; instead,

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when the temperature increased from 100 °C to 700 °C, weight loss appeared at all
times (Fig. 4 (a)). The mass loss corresponding to the three obvious endothermic
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valleys before 565 °C was 60.11 %. There is a broadened endothermic peak from
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100 °C to 280 °C due to the weight loss due to the volatilization of water, residual HF
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and side-chain of polyacrylamide be decomposed [14,36]. At this stage, part of the

organic matter melted and enveloped the decomposed gas, and the sample looked like
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a black balloon, as shown in Fig. 4 (c). A pungent smell was detected after breaking
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the calcined sample at 280 °C. With increasing temperature, the backbone of
polyacrylamide be decomposed [36], pores appeared on the surface of the sample, and
a white powder was found in the sample calcined at 445℃, as shown in Fig. 4 (d) and
(e). When the temperature increased to 565 °C, all the samples turned white, as shown
in Fig. 4 (f). An endothermic valley appeared at 600 °C, and the DTG curve shows
that the mass loss rate was fast, indicating that the sample reacted violently near that
temperature. An exothermic peak appeared at 645 °C, and the DTG curve shows that
the mass loss rate was slow, indicating that the sample passed into a crystalline
transformation stage.
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Fig. 5 X-ray diffraction patterns of samples calcined at different temperature: (a) xerogel, (b)
280°C/2h, (c) 380°C/2h, (d) 445°C/2h, (e) 565°C/2h, (f) 645°C/2h, (g) 680°C/2h, (h) 700°C/2h, (i)
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750°C/2h, (j) powders which pre-calcined at 445 °C were calcined 2h at 800 °C in an atmosphere
of N2.
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The XRD patterns of the samples calcined at different temperatures are illustrated
in Fig. 5. The index phase of low-angle diffraction peaks of xerogel are C13H10N2O3
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for JPDS no.52-1990, C12H12N2 for JPSD no.34-1698, and C13H6Cl5NO3 for JPDS
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no.37-1697, but the polyacrylamide diffraction peak not observed, indicating that the
process of AM polymerization is affected by the incorporation of ions, correspond
with FT-IR analysis. When the temperature rose to 380 °C, the low-angle diffraction
peaks gradually disappeared, indicating that the organic matter was almost
decomposed, and the Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O compounds diffraction peak were
obvious. Cubic NaNbO3 (JCPDS no.75-2102) started to appear from 445 °C to 645 °C,
corresponding to the analysis shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4. The main phase in the
samples calcined at 680-700 °C was orthorhombic NaNbO3 (JCPDS no.82-0606),
whose space group is P21ma. H. Zhang [17] considered that NaNbO3 with space
group P21ma is the intermediate phase of the antiferroelectric R-phase NaNbO3 with
space group Pnmm and the antiferroelectric P-phase with space group Pbma. This
phase exhibits polarization properties and application prospects in energy storage.
Finally, with increasing temperature, the phase transformed into another common
orthorhombic NaNbO3 (JCPDS no.33-1270), whose space group is Pbma [37]. Some
details of the illustration in the Fig.5 proof the phase transformation in the studied,
which was indexed as {1 1 3/4} superlattice peaks of AFE orthorhombic P phase of
NaNbO3, which was indexed as {2 0 0} superlattice peaks of cubic phase of NaNbO3
[32] [38].
There was an interesting phenomenon: with increasing temperature, the molar ratio
of F- in the Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O compounds gradually decreases, but the molar

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ratio of O2- increased. To prove that O2- in the air gradually replaced F- from the
Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O compounds, the powder pre-calcined at 445 °C was calcined

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at 800 °C in an atmosphere of N2, the main crystal phase was NaNbO3 (JCPDS
no.82-0606). It did not transform into common NaNbO3 (JCPDS no.33-1270), and
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some diffraction peaks belonged to the Na2Nb4O11 (JCPDS no.44-0060), as shown in
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Fig. 5(j). The Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O compounds cannot completely transform into
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common NaNbO3 (JCPDS no.33-1270).

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Fig. 6 SEM images and EDS of NaNbO3 powder synthesis at different condition: (a)-(d) 565 °C/ 2
h, (e) 680 °C/ 3 h, (f) 700 °C/ 2 h, (g) 750 °C/ 2 h, (h) 800 °C/ 2 h, (i)-(k) powders which
pre-calcinate at 445 °C were calcined 2h at 800 °C in an atmosphere of N2.
Fig. 6 shows the SEM images and EDS of the NaNbO3 powder synthesis at
different conditions. There are two morphologies in the NaNbO3 powders which
calcined at 565 °C. The XRD and EDS results indicate that NaNbO3 is cubic
(JCPDS no.75-2102), as shown in Fig. 6 (a), and the Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O
compounds are a long and columnar compound, as shown in Fig. 6 (c). Obvious
layered growth streaks can be seen on the surface of the NaNbO3 particles calcined at
680 °C for 3 h, as shown in Fig. 6 (e). The edges of the particles became unequal, the
layered growth streaks on some faces were stacked very high, and small crystal
particles were attached to the surface of the large crystal particles. This shows that the
growth rate of the crystal planes in the samples was not the same. As shown in Fig. 6
(f) - (h), with increasing temperature, NaNbO3 particles gradually developed, but the

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layered growth streaks remained at the edges of the particles.
Fig. 6 (i) - (k) shows SEM images of the powders calcined at 800 °C under an

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atmosphere of N2 obtain by powders which pre-calcined at 445 °C. There are two
morphologies, the particle size was approximately 30 nm, the grain size was
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distribution and uniform, and the particles were nearly spherical, as shown in Fig. 6
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(j). The other is long columnar Na/Nb/F/O compound, as shown in Fig. 6 (k), the
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phases are NaNbO3 (JCPDS no.82-0606) and Na2Nb4O11 (JCPDS no.44-0060),

respectively. This is differed from the microscopic morphology of the particles that
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were calcined at an air environment. During this process, the amount of oxygen was
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limited, indicated that the growth of particles was inhibited in an anoxic environment.
Under a N2 atmosphere, this nearly spherical orthorhombic phase was transformed
from a cubic phase, but the lack of O2 which inhibited the decomposition of the
Na/Nb/F/O compounds and could not provide ion source for the further growth of the
crystal grains; thus, the sample size was small and could not develop into
cuboid-shaped grains under N2 atmosphere.
Based on the above analysis, a schematic diagram of the growth process of
NaNbO3 particles during the synthesis of NaNbO3 powder by the polyacrylamide gel
method was drawn, as shown in Fig. 7. During the heating process and in air, the F- in
the long columnar Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O compounds (Fig. 7 (a)) was replaced by
O2- and then transformed into cubic NaNbO3 (Fig. 7 (b)). The sample exhibited
growth striation due to the deposition of ions on the steps on the 6 faces of the cubic
grains [39], which eventually formed layers and a nearly spherical shape, as shown in
Fig. 6 (e) and Fig. 7 (c). When the temperature raised, the main crystalline phase of
the sample began to transform into the orthogonal phase of the common
cuboid-shaped NaNbO3 with space group Pbma (Fig. 7 (d)). If the ion source is
sufficient, it should be able to develop into a complete cuboid shape (Fig. 7 (e)) like
the NaNbO3 powder via the hydrothermal method, according to other scholars [21].

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Fig. 7 Schematic diagram of the growth process of NaNbO3 particles via the polyacrylamide gel
method.

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3.2 NaNbO3 ceramic -p
The density of pure NaNbO3 ceramics which fabricated by other scholars are
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summarized in Table 1. In this work, the NaNbO3 ceramic sintering at 1200 °C which
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fabricate from the NaNbO3 powder that was pre-calcined at 565 °C. The density and
relative density were 4.33 g/cm3 and 94.9%, respectively. Compared with the routes in
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other works, this route has the advantage of a lower sintering temperature and shorter
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soak time. The Curie temperature (Tc) and dielectric loss (tan) of the NaNbO3
ceramic fabricate in this paper are similar to other’s work.
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Table 1 Comparison of NaNbO3 ceramic properties

Relative
TC
tan(%) Density(g/cm3) density Remark Ref.
（°C）
(%)
sintered at 1365 ℃ for 2h, with an irregular shape,
360 98 [4]
mean particle size is 15nm.
90.2±1.1 sintered at 1275-1350 °C for 2 h in an air environment [40]
385.5 0.96 3.93±0.09 - sintered at 1370 °C for 2 h without any protection. [41]
mixed raw materials is using two-stage annealing at
4.31 T= 800 - 850 ℃, and kept for four hours at each stage. [42]
sintered at 1220-1240 ℃for 2h
sintered at 1200 ℃ for 2h without any protect, cotain
this
384.4 0.95 4.33 94.9 cubic shape (mean particle size 20 nm) and long
work
columnar like phase (long is 1 μm)

Fig. 8 presents the temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity (ε') and
dielectric loss (tan δ) of the NaNbO3 ceramic at a frequency of 1 MHz. A
characteristic dielectric peak at approximately 384.4 °C corresponds to the Curie
temperature, which is similar to the results in other studies, antiferroelectric P-phase
(space group Pbma) transform to another antiferroelectric R-phase (space group
Pnmm). An abnormal dielectric peak appeared at ~108 °C which can be identified as
intrinsic phase transition from antiferroelectric P-phase to ferroelectric Q (space group
P21ma) [4]. But the abnormal peak was not obvious, similar to Y. Fan [40] the
abnormal dielectric peak yet not obvious in Na-excess samples. Indicated, sodium
volatilizes limited when calcine at a lower temperature in this work.

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Fig. 8 The temperature dependences of dielectric constant ε' and loss tangent tan δ at 1MHz for
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unpolarized NaNbO3 ceramic at room temperature.

Fig. 9 XRD pattern(a) and SEM image(b-c) of NaNbO3 ceramic.

The XRD pattern of the NaNbO3 ceramic shown in Fig. 9 (a), indicates that the
NaNbO3 ceramic is the orthorhombic phase (JCPDS no.33-1270) with good
crystallinity and no appear impurity phases. Fig. 9 (b) - (c) shows the SEM images of
the NaNbO3 ceramic without any treatment. The sample surface had few pores. There
are amount of 5μm grain on the surface and some abnormally bigger grains.
 The NaNbO3 powder calcined at 565 °C contained NaNbO2F2(JPSD no.22-1392),
NaNb3O5(JPSD no.78-0469), NaNb3O8(JPSD no.21-1367) and cubic NaNbO3 (JPSD
no.22-1392). The bigger O2- replaced the smaller F- during the sintering process. And
the grain size of those powder belongs to nanoscale, so the powder obtain high
surface energy which can improve sintering process. Finally, the NaNbO3 ceramic
was obtained at low temperature, indicating that NaNbO3 powder synthesis via the
polyacrylamide gel method has high sintering activity.
4 Conclusions
In this work, highly sintering-active NaNbO3 powders were synthesized by the

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polyacrylamide gel method. The introduction of Nb5+, Na+, Cl-, F-, and HF
significantly affected the polycondensation reaction of the acrylamide monomer.

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During the synthesis process, the F- in the long columnar Na/Nb/F and Na/Nb/F/O
compounds was replaced by O2-, providing an ion source for NaNbO3 particle layer
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growth. The oxygen atmosphere played a key role during the synthesis method. Under
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a N2 atmosphere, NaNbO3 nanoparticles with a nearly spherical orthorhombic phase

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and a uniform particle size distribution were prepared. The pre-calcined NaNbO3
powders at 565 °C were eventually used to fabricate a NaNbO3 ceramic. The density,
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relative density and Curie temperature (Tc) of the NaNbO3 ceramic sintering at
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1200 °C were 4.33 g/cm3, 94.9% and 384.4 °C, respectively. Compared with the
solid-state reaction method, the sintering temperature of NaNbO3 ceramic was
successfully reduced, which suggests that the synthetic method presented in this work
has the important advantages of lower temperature sintering.
Acknowledgements
This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51762024, 52062018, 52162003and 51862016), Natural Science Foundation
of Jiangxi Province (20192BAB206008 and 20192BAB212002), a special funding
project from Jiangxi Province to guide the development of local science and
technology (2020ZDI03004), and Foundation of the Department of Education of
Guizhou province (No. KY[2018]030).
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Declaration of interests

☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships
that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered
as potential competing interests:

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