Antiferroelectric NaNbO3 ceramics prepared by hydrothermal-assisted cold sintering process

A hydrothermal-assisted cold sintering process is developed for preparing antiferroelectric NaNbO3 ceramic. The novel process includes hydrothermal synthesizing NaNbO3 particles, cold sintering, and annealing. The physical and electrical properties of the cold sintered ceramics were studied comprehensively and compared with ceramics prepared by conventional sintering techniques. At optimum conditions, dense ceramic can be prepared by the cold sintering process with very low heat treatment temperature, and the properties are comparable with that prepared by conventional sintering.