A coprecipitation technique to prepare Mg4Nb2O9 powders

A simple coprecipitation technique had been successfully applied for the preparation of pure ultrafine single phase Mg4Nb2O9 (MN). Sodium hydroxide was used to precipitate Mg2+ and Nb5+ cations as hydroxides simultaneously. This precursor on heating at 750 °C, produces MN powders. For comparison, MN powders were also prepared by the traditional solid state method. The phase contents and lattice parameters were studied by the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Particle size and morphology was studied by transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM).