Parallel preparation and properties investigation on Li2O-Nb2O5-TiO2 microwave dielectric ceramics

A parallel preparation method was developed using dry powders as starting materials to synthesize multi-compositional microwave dielectric ceramics. The Li2O-Nb2O5-TiO2 ternary system was investigated as a model material. The validity of the parallel ceramic preparation process was confirmed by synthesizing a group of LiNb0.6Ti0.5O3 ceramics in parallel, which showed the same crystalline structure and close dielectric properties. The ceramic libraries with M-phase-rich samples and Li2TiO3-rich samples were prepared using the parallel process, and the microwave dielectric properties and crystal phases were investigated systematically. An excellent microwave ceramic with a composition of 0.55Li2O-0.05Nb2O5-0.40TiO2 was obtained, which has a dielectric constant of 18.4 and a high quality value (Q × f) of 79000 GHz. This parallel process can be applied extensively to explore a variety of bulk ceramic libraries for discovering new functional materials with high performances.