Morphology, structure, optical, and electrical properties of AgSbO3

The morphology of defect pyrochlore-type, AgSbO3 microparticle/nanoparticles obtained via solid state reaction evolve from irregular to Fullerene-like polyhedra before finally decomposing into metal-organic framework-5 like particles with increase in sintering temperature. The defect pyrochlore-type AgSbO3 particles are slightly Ag deficient while the valence of the antimony ion is shown to be +5 giving rise to a probable stoichiometry of Ag1−xSb O3−x/2, with x 0.01–0.04. A highly structured diffuse intensity distribution observed via electron diffraction is interpreted in terms of correlated displacements of one-dimensional 1D silver ion chains along 110 directions. A redshifting in the absorption edges in UV-visible absorption spectra is observed for samples prepared at sintering temperatures higher than 1000 °C and attributed to the surface plasma resonance effect associated with small amounts of excess metallic Ag on the Ag1−xSb O3−x/2 particles. An electrical properties investigation of the silver antimonate samples via dielectric, conductivity, and electric modulus spectroscopy shows a prominent dielectric relaxation associated with grain boundaries. The silver ion conductivity is associated with correlated displacements of 1D silver ion chains along 110 directions. © 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3462434