We have investigated the structure, dielectric and electrical properties of lead-free polycrystalline (Na[Formula: see text] K[Formula: see text] Li[Formula: see text]) NbO3 ceramics as a function of temperature and frequency in order to understand the intrinsic contribution of grain/bulk and grain boundary effects toward the dielectric response as well as the electrical conduction mechanism in the samples fabricated by microwave sintering method. X-ray diffraction analysis exhibits perovskite structure with orthorhombic symmetry, which is well supported by the Raman spectroscopic analysis. A minor secondary impurity phase of tungsten bronze structure was observed for samples sintered at 1050[Formula: see text]C, which gets weaker for samples sintered at 1150[Formula: see text]C. Dielectric permittivity was enhanced by 50%, although there was a reduction in the dielectric loss by about 50% at Curie temperature (450[Formula: see text]C) for samples sintered at 1150[Formula: see text]C. Complex impedance spectroscopic analysis indicated non-Debye-type dielectric relaxation present in the samples, and this phenomenon followed thermally activated process related to hopping mechanism. Nyquist plot showed the negative temperature coefficient of resistance, characteristic of the samples.
Modulus spectroscopy for the detection of parallel electric responses in electroceramics
