Hydrothermal Synthesis of Bi1.5ZnNb1.5O7 Nanopowders
The cubic pyrochlore phase Bi1.5ZnNb1.5O7 nanopowder was successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method (HTM) from the starting materials: Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, ZnO, Nb2O5 and the mineralizer: KOH. The XRD patterns prove that the cubic pyrochlore phase Bi1.5ZnNb1.5O7 nanopowder can be obtained by HTM, and TEM photographs show that the powders present the regularly granular shape, when the hydrothermal reactions were conducted at synthesis temperatures 140~220°C and reaction time for 6~48h. The crystalline sizes of the powders were calculated by the Scherrer equation to be about 43~49nm. The crystalline sizes decreased both with the increase in synthesis temperature and the prolonged reaction time until they reached to the minimum size about 43nm at 220°C for 24h.However, they tended to increase when the reaction time was above 24h.