Effects of Starting Materials on Molten Salt Synthesis of Bi4Ti3O12

Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 is one of the potential candidates for non-lead piezoelectric materials to replace existing lead-based ones. Properties of BNT could be enhanced by reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) technique through induction of grain orientation with crystals of Bi4Ti3O12. Controlling the size of Bi4Ti3O12 crystals during the synthesis with molten salt is a major factor in optimizing RTGG. It was found that molten salt synthesis of Bi4Ti3O12 Crystals with NaCl-KCl yielded larger particles, compared with Na2SO4-3K(2)SO(4). Varying the proportion of chloride salt did not produce noticeable changes in crystal size. Bi4Ti3O12 crystals were significantly affected by raw materials treatment. Non-milling of starting powders could approximately double the crystal size