Surface characterization of PZN ceramics prepared by a columbite B-site precursor

Abstract

Pyrochlore-type PZN ceramics have been obtained from a two-stage process with columbite B-site precursor. In order to determine the chemical composition of these samples, a combination between X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spec-troscopy (XPS) techniques has been performed. XRD analysis revealed the coexistence of unreacted PbO starting precursor and major phase of the pyrochlore-type PZN phase as average composition from the bulk volume. While different binding energies (multicomponents) of each chemical element e.g. Pb, Zn, Nb and O from the surface of PZN ceramics were identified by XPS, indicating inhomogeneous surface chemical distribution within these columbite-route samples.