Structural, optical, electrical and dielectric properties of Bi1.5Zn0.92Nb1.5-xNixO6.92-3x/2 solid solution

The effects of Ni content on the structural, optical, dielectric and electrical properties of Bi1.5Zn0.92Nb1.5O6.92 pyrochlore ceramics have been investigated. Nickel atoms were inserted into pure samples in accordance to the composition Bi1.5Zn0.92Nb1.5-xNixO6.92-3x/2, with x varying from 0.07 to 0.40. The structural analysis revealed that a single phase of the pyrochlore compound can be obtained for x values of 0.07 and 0.10 only. Further increase in Ni caused the appearance of multiple phases. The optical energy band gaps are determined as 3.30, 3.35 and 3.52 eV for Ni content of 0.00, 0.07 and 0.10 respectively. The temperature dependent electrical resistivity and the frequency dependent capacitance are observed to increase with increasing Ni content. The resonance frequency, which was determined from the capacitance-frequency dependence, was observed to shift from 12.14 to 10.47 kHz as the x values increase from 0.00 to 0.10 respectively.