A novel Ce2Zr3(MoO4)9 microwave dielectric ceramic with ultra-low firing temperature

Abstract A new type of Ce2Zr3(MoO4)9 (CZM) ceramic was successfully prepared through the solid-phase reaction process at low sintering temperature. All the studied sintered samples exhibited a trigonal phase with space group of R-3c (No.167) by means of X-ray diffraction. Rietveld refinement analysis results further explored the crystalline structure of CZM. According to Scanning electron microscopy images, dense uniform surface morphology was observed at 525–625 °C for CZM ceramics. The correlations between structural characteristics and microwave dielectric properties of CZM ceramics were systematically investigated by calculating some chemical bond parameters on the basis of the chemical bonds theory of complex crystals. The analysis results of far-infrared reflectivity spectroscopy revealed that the absorption of structural phonon vibration at infrared frequencies played a dominant role in dielectric polarization contribution for CZM ceramics. Furthermore, the CZM sample sintered at 575 °C exhibited optimum microwave dielectric properties of er = 10.69, Q·f = 19,062 GHz and τf = −1.29 ppm/°C.