Evolution of nanocrystalline BaBi2Nb2O9 in Li2B4O7–BaO–Bi2O3–Nb2O5 glass system

Abstract Transparent glasses and glass nano crystal composites (GNCs) of various compositions in the system (100 − x)Li2B4O7–x(BaO–Bi2O3–Nb2O5) (where x = 10, 20, and 30 in molar ratio) were fabricated via splat-quenching technique. The glassy nature of the as-quenched samples was established by differential thermal analyses. X-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies confirmed the formation of layered perovskite BBN via a fluorite like phase. TEM studies revealed the presence of 10 nm sized spherical crystallites of fluorite like BaBi2Nb2O9 phase in the glassy matrix of Li2B4O7 (LBO). The influence of composition on the dielectric and the optical properties (transmission, optical band gap) of these samples has been investigated.