SBN60, strontium-barium niobate at 100 K

Abstract

The title compound, Sr0.6Ba0.4Nb2O6 (strontium barium niobium oxide), belongs to the group of strontium–barium niobates with varying composition of Sr and Ba. Their general formula can be written as SrxBa1 - xNb2O6. Below the Curie temperature, Tc, these materials indicate ferroelectric properties. The Curie temperature for SBN60 is equal to 346±0.5 K so the structure is in the ferroelectric phase at the measurement temperature of 100 K. Characteristic for this family of compounds is the packing along the z-axis. The NbO6 corner-sharing octahedra surround three types of vacancy tunnels with pentagonal, square and triangular shapes. The Sr2+ ions partially occupy two unique sites, the first one located inside the pentagon and the second one in the square tunnels. Consequently, they are situated on the mirror plane and the intersection of two glide planes, respectively. The site inside the pentagonal tunnel is additionally disordered so that the same position is shared by Ba2+ and Sr2+ ions whereas another part of the Ba2+ ion occupies a different position (relative occupancies 0.43:0.41:0.16). One of the NbV atoms and three of the O2− ions occupy general positions. The second NbV atom is located on the intersection of the mirror planes. Two remaining O2− ions are located on the same mirror plane. Only the NbV atom and one of the O2− ions which is located on the mirror plane are not disordered. Each of the remaining O2− ions is split between two sites, with relative occupancies of 0.52:0.48 (O2− ions in general positions) and 0.64:0.36 (O2− ion on the mirror plane).