Effects of V2O5 on the synthesis of Ba2Ti9O20 powders

Phase-pure Ba2Ti9O20 powders were made by doping 3 wt% of V2O5 to a Ba:Ti = 2:9 molar composition, and the effects of the dopant on the phase formation were investigated. The study shows that BaTiO3, BaTi2O5, and BaTi4O9 were the intermediate phases before the formation of Ba2Ti9O20 for samples with or without V2O5. However, with V2O5 doping, the temperature at which Ba2Ti9O20 occurred were lowered from 1150 to 1050 °C and single phase Ba2Ti9O20 powders was easily obtained at 1150 °C for 2 h. Microstructure of the powders was examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy. No evidence of V2O5-Ba2Ti9O20 solid-solution was found by x-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The benefit of V2O5 to facilitate the Ba2Ti9O20 synthesis is most probably due to a vanadium-containing eutectic liquid phase which accelerates the migration of reactant species.