Bismuth
based cubic pyrochlores are attractive candidates for microwave
agile devices. The structure dependence of dielectric properties of
Bi1.5Mg1–x
Ni
x
Nb1.5O7 (Ni-BMN, x = 0.0–0.5)
ceramics are discussed systematically. All the Ni-BMN pyrochlores
show a cubic pyrochlore structure with a preferential (222)-orientation.
However, Ni2+ ions entering would reduce the symmetry of
cubic pyrochlore structure, which may increase the disorder degree
of cubic pyrochlore structure. The detailed status of A2O and BO6 networks in Ni-BMN are revealed by structure
analysis. The dielectric constant of Ni-BMN pyrochlores show slightly
decrease from 168 to 148 with increasing Ni-doping content due to
the lower polarizability of Ni2+. However, Ni-doping can
effectively decrease the dielectric loss of Ni-BMN pyrochlores from
0.00072 to 0.00039. Moreover, Ni-doping improves the temperature stability
of Ni-BMN pyrochlores, which is attributed to the altered O–Ni-O
chain.