ZHANG Huazhen ¹, LIU Liying ², ZHU Mankang ¹, HOU Yudong ¹, WANG Ruzhi ¹, YAN Hui ¹
(1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China; 2. College of Applied Science, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

Abstract: In this paper, lead-free potassium niobate (KNbO₃) nanopowders with different morphologies including the nanoblock, needleshaped,nanowire and octahedron were prepared via a simple hydrothermal method. Their as-prepared samples were then examined by XRD, SEM, TEM, SAED and HRTEM. The results show that the crystallization, morphologies and phase structure of the hydrothermal synthesized KNbO₃ can be controlled by simply regulating the mineralizer concentration and the reactant concentration. It is suggested that the morphology of potassium niobate nanopowder directly influences the phase structure. Further, the mechanical performance analysis of the single-crystalline KNbO₃ nanorods by an atomic force microscope (AFM) finds the linear relationship between force and displacement.

Key words: hydrothermal; nanostructure; nano manipulation; mechanical property