Reply to the Comment on 'The Effect of Barium Substitution on the Ferroelectric Properties of Sr_2Nb_2O_7 Ceramics' [J. Am. Ceram. Soc, 96 [4] 1163-1170(2013)]

摘要

In response to the comment that has been made on our results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of the ferroelectric Sr_(2_x)Ba_xNb_2O_7 ceramics (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5). XPS was used to explore the chemical state of the metal and oxygen ions in the solid solution samples. The results were collected at room temperature using an Escalab MKII, VG Scientific instrument (East Sussex, UK). A monochromatized AlKα (1486.5 eV) X-ray source was employed with a pass energy of 20 eV. The photoelectron energy drift due to charging effects was calibrated using Carbon 1s (285 eV) as a reference generated by adventitious carbon on the sample surface. The binding energy (BE) of certain electrons for each composition was used to compare and analyze the state of the ions. Different XPS experiments use different instruments and the value of C 1s, which is normally used as the reference to calibrate the data, are slightly different in different reports (284.6-285.2 eV). From the comment, the BE difference (ABE) method is proposed to analyze the results. The BE difference parameter is insensitive to the calibration method and the surface charging effects. Hence, it is particularly suitable for the comparative analysis of XPS results measured by different spectrometers.