Abstract
Nanosized oxides of barium strontium zirconate of general formula Ba1-xSrxZrO3 (0 <= x <= 1) have been prepared over the entire range of x for the first time by polymeric precursor route using citric acid and ethylene glycol. These solid solutions were investigated by means of powder x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area studies. X-ray diffraction studies reveal the monophasic nature of the powders at 1000 degrees C. The grain size was found to be in the range of 17-52 nm for all the oxides at 1000 degrees C. Specific surface area of these solid solutions comes out to be in the range of 49.1-94.4 m(2)/g. Smallest particle size with highest surface area has been achieved for x = 0.25 and comes out to be 17 nm and 94.4 m(2)/g respectively. Dielectric constant (epsilon) and dissipation factor (D) were investigated as a function of frequency and temperature. The room temperature dielectric constant of Ba1-xSrxZrO3 was found to be maximum 105 for x = 0.20 at 1 MHz.