Research Article Sol-Gel Synthesis and Characterization of Cubic Bismuth Zinc Niobium Oxide Nanopowders

Copyright © 2014 Ganchimeg Perenlei et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Bismuth zinc niobiumoxide (BZN)was successfully synthesized by a diol-based sol-gel reaction utilizingmetal acetate and alkoxide precursors. Thermal analysis of a liquid suspension of precursors suggests that the majority of organic precursors decompose at temperatures up to 150∘C, and organic free powders form above 350∘C.The experimental results indicate that a homogeneous gel is obtained at about 200∘C and then converts to a mixture of intermediate oxides at 350–400∘C. Finally, single-phased BZN powders are obtained between 500 and 900∘C. The degree of chemical homogeneity as determined by X-ray diffraction and EDS mapping is consistent throughout the samples. Elemental analysis indicates that the atomic ratio of metals closely matches a B