Making electronics safer with perovskites
Tanusin Phunya/ 123rf
Perovskite oxynitrides - cheap and easily fabricated materials with a distinctive crystalline structure - are particularly promising. But ceramics manufactured from these materials need to be made denser to improve their insulating properties. This is usually done by applying intense heat; a process called "sintering". However, sintering the material can lead to a change in its chemical composition, turning it from an insulator to an electrical conductor.
The researchers sintered the perovskite powder SrTaO2N at a temperature of 1723 Kelvin (1450° Celsius) for three hours. They then "annealed" the material by heating it with flowing ammonia at 1223 Kelvin (950° Celsius) for 12 hours and then allowing it to slowly cool.
They found that the surface of the material after this process (but not its interior) displayed an important dielectric property called "ferroelectricity". This was the first time that a ferroelectric response has been observed on oxynitride perovskite ceramics, they say, making it promising as a new dielectric material for multi-layered ceramic capacitors.
Original publication
Other news from the department science
Get the chemical industry in your inbox
From now on, don't miss a thing: Our newsletter for the chemical industry, analytics, lab technology and process engineering brings you up to date every Tuesday and Thursday. The latest industry news, product highlights and innovations - compact and easy to understand in your inbox. Researched by us so you don't have to.