A comparative study of ZnNb2O6 nanoceramics synthesized by high energy ball milling and subsequent conventional and microwave annealing

Ball-milling and subsequent conventional and microwave assisted heating processes have been applied to synthesize ZnNb2O6 nanoceramic. X-ray diffraction, simultaneous thermal analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and BET techniques were utilized to characterize the as-milled and annealed samples. Characterization of synthesized powders revealed that in spite of the very short heating time in the microwave process without soaking time, the powder heated at 550 °C had all physical properties similar to powders synthesized in conventional heating at the 650 °C temperature with a heating rate of 10 °C/min and a soaking time of 1 h. In addition, SEM, TEM and BET observations of synthesized powders showed that the particle size of powders lies in the nano meter range.