Effects of Nb2O5 as seeds and trisodium citrate as suppressing agent on LiNbO3 formation

•Effect of Nb2O5 on LiNbO3 particle hydrothermal synthesis is presented.•Na3C6H5O7 is used as a selective crystallographic growth suppressing agent.•LiNbO3 evolves into flower structures as the synthesis time increases to 5 days.•Crystal structures of synthesized Na3C6H5O7 are consistent with morphology evolution.

This study is to understand the effect of Nb2O5 on the formation and morphology of LiNbO3 particles during hydrothermal synthesis. Trisodium citrate (Na3C6H5O7) is for the first time used as a selective crystallographic growth suppressing agent. The morphology of LiNbO3 is examined using scanning electron microscopy and the crystal structure of the material is characterized using X-ray diffraction. The morphology of LiNbO3 evolves into novel flower structures as the synthesis time increases to 5 days. The crystal structures of the synthesized materials are consistent with the morphology evolution.