Resistive,capacitive and conducting properties of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-BaTiO3 solid solution

In the present paper, the effect of addition of a small amount (8 wt%) of barium titanate (BT) on electrical properties of bismuth sodium titanate (BNT) forming a solid solution of a composition (0.92)(Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃)+(0.08)(BaTiO₃) (BNT-BT-8) has mainly been reported. The solid solution of BNT-BT-8 was prepared by a cost effective and standard mixed-oxide method. Preliminary structural analysis using X-rays diffraction pattern and data showed the existence of two phases; orthorhombic (major) and tetragonal (minor impurity/secondary) phase. Analysis of scanning electron micrograph and energy dispersive spectrum of the pellet sample reveals the formation of high density with homogeneously distributed grains of varying dimension. The locations, phonon modes statistics, width and intensity of peaks of Raman spectra of BNT-BT-8 was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and provided some data on molecular structure of the material. The effect of temperature and frequency on some ferroelectric characteristics of the material were studied. The frequency-temperature dependence of electrical characteristical such as impedance of the material was studied by impedance spectroscopy. The electric conductivity follows the Arrhenius equation and provided activation energy at different frequency. The dielectric and impedance spectroscopy suggest the existence of a non-Debye relaxation mechanism in the material.     

Dielectric behavior dependence on temperature and Cr-doping contents of Aurivillius Bi5Ti3FeO15 ceramics

The dielectric behavior of Cr-doped Bi₅Ti₃FeO₁₅ (BTFCO) ceramics was systemically studied by temperature-dependent dielectric/impedance spectroscopy from 200 K to 400 K. Two dielectric relaxation processes were found in grain interiors of the BTFCO ceramics. Both of them showed similar activation energy. This usually brings a great challenge to discern the different mechanisms of the conductivity and/or dielectric responses in Fe–Cr-based materials; nevertheless the origins of the two relaxations were unambiguously determined by adjusting the Cr doping contents. One relaxation at high temperature region was proposed to be associated with the localized electron hopping between Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺, whereas another one at lower temperatures was assigned to the localized hole transfer between Cr³⁺ and Cr⁶⁺ inside the grains. Moreover, the transition temperature between the two relaxations showed a nearly linear reducing trend with the Cr-doping content.     

Conductivity of nanostructured mesoporous MCM-41 molecular sieve materials

MCM-41 molecular sieve materials have been investigated by means of impedance spectroscopy. Dielectric response of water confined in MCM-41 molecular sieve materials showed a power law dispersion, which was assigned to ac conductivity. This process, which occurs at temperatures close to room temperature, was found in all our investigated samples with the pore diameters ranging from 2.0 to 3.7 nm. Obtained values of the imaginary part of the complex dielectric permittivity were much larger than that of the bulk water. Such a phenomenon can be explained by the electrical response characteristic of the microstructural electrical network formed by water and hosting mesoporous silica material. The real part of conductivity has been calculated, and the influence of the pores size to electric conductivity and its mechanisms are discussed.     

Dielectric characteristics of polyimide CP2

High-performance aerospace-grade polyimides such as CP2 fulfill many important roles in a wide range of applications. A thorough understanding of the polymer matrix’s physiochemical properties is an important consideration when developing polymer nanocomposite materials. In this work, we report the dielectric properties of polyimide CP2 including the primary and two secondary dipole relaxations, and their thermal characteristics by way of temperature variable impedance spectroscopy (10⁻² to 10⁶ Hz, −40 to 225 °C). Special emphasis has been placed on detailing the characteristic phenomena near CP2′s glass transition (199 °C). The consequences of residual DMAc solvent on CP2′s overall loss and relaxation characteristics are also discussed.     

Structural,dielectric and electrical characteristics of BiFeO3-NaNbO3 solid solutions

The paper mainly reports the effect of NaNbO₃ (as a doping material) on the structural (crystal data and microstructure), dielectric (permittivity, dissipation of energy) and electrical (impedance, modulus, and conductivity) characteristics of BiFeO₃ forming a solid solution of Bi_.8Na_.2Fe_.8Nb_.2O_3. By analysis of the room temperature X-ray diffraction data, the formation of pure-phase material and its crystal data were obtained. The comprehensive studies of dielectric parameters (relative dielectric constant (ε_r), and tangent loss (tan δ) were measured in a wide range of temperature (25–450?°C) and frequency (1?kHz-1?MHz). The surface morphology, obtained with a gold-coated pellet sample, exhibits the high density of the sample. The frequency-temperature dependence of conductivity follows the Jonscher’s Universal Power law. The electrical behavior of the compound has been studied using complex impedance and modulus data. The effect of grain and grain boundary on the capacitive and resistive properties of the material has been studied from complex impedance spectroscopy.     

Dielectric loss and phase transition of sodium potassium niobate ceramic investigated by impedance spectroscopy

The dielectric permittivity of Na_0.80K_0.20NbO₃ ceramic was investigated by impedance spectroscopy. The dielectric characterization was performed from room temperature to 800 °C, in the frequency range 5 Hz–13 MHz. The bulk permittivity was derived by the variation of the imaginary part of the impedance as a function of reciprocal angular frequency. The permittivity values as a function of temperature showed two maxima. The first maximum is very similar at 200 °C and the second one positioned at around 400 °C, which was associated to Curie’s temperature. The evolution of the complex permittivity as a function of frequency and temperature was investigated. At low frequency dispersion was investigated in terms of dielectric loss. The Na_0.80K_0.20NbO₃ showed a dissipation factor between 5 and 40 over a frequency range from 1 to 10² kHz.     

Low temperature sintering and dielectric properties of (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Ti0.9Zr0.1)O3−xCu2+ ceramics obtained by the sol-gel technique

Lead-free Cu²⁺-modified (Ba_0.85Ca_0.15)(Ti_0.9Zr_0.1)O₃ (BCZT−xCu²⁺) piezoelectric ceramics was synthesized by sol-gel method. The effects of Cu²⁺ additions on sintering characteristics, the phase structure, microstructure, electrical properties and complex impedance characteristic were investigated systematically. The XRD patterns exhibited a pure perovskite structure without impurity phase in all samples. SEM micrographs, temperature dependence of dielectric constant and polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops indicated that a small amount of Cu²⁺ addition affected the properties obviously. The results revealed that the addition of Cu²⁺ significantly improved the sinterability of BCZT ceramics which resulted in a reduction of sintering temperature from 1440 °C to 1230 °C. The TG-DSC was analyzed to verify the reaction process of BCZT−Cu²⁺ materials. (Ba_0.85Ca_0.15)(Ti_0.9Zr_0.1)O₃ ceramics with x=0.020 Cu²⁺ exhibited good electrical properties: ε_m=12,112, T_c=360 K, ε_r=2614, tan δ=0.026, K_p=0.47 and d₃₃=382 pC/N. The results indicated that Cu²⁺-modified BCZT ceramics could be a promising candidate for commercial purposes.     

Effect of Mn-doping on the structure and electrical properties of (Pb0.325Sr0.675)TiO3 ceramics

Pb_0.325Sr_0.675Ti_1-xMn_xO₃ ceramics (x?=?0, 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, and 0.05) were successfully prepared by traditional solid-state reaction method. It was found that the lattice constant calculated through Rietveld refinement initially increased and then decreased with increasing Mn content, which was attributed to the variation in valence state of Mn and Ti ions. The microstructure gradually varied from the coexistence of large grains and fine grains for x?=?0 to the uniform grain for x?=?0.05 by increasing the doping Mn ions. With increasing Mn content from x?=?0 to x?=?0.05, the Curie temperature (Tc) dramatically decreased from 25?°C to ??40?°C and dielectric maximum decreased from 27,100 to 13,200. Pb_0.325Sr_0.675Ti_1-xMn_xO₃ ceramics with x?=?0.001 showed the lowest dielectric loss of 0.006 with a relatively high dielectric peak value of ~ 21,000. The grain boundaries resistance obtained from the complex impedance decreased with the increase of Mn content. The decrease in resistance was ascribed to oxygen vacancies and electronics produced by the change of ionic valence state. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy revealed that Ti ions were Ti⁴⁺ and the valences of Mn ions were deduced to be mainly in the form of Mn²⁺ and/or Mn³⁺ for ceramics with low content of Mn, while the Ti ions were in the form of Ti³⁺ and Ti⁴⁺ and Mn ions were diverse valence states with the coexistence of Mn²⁺, Mn³⁺, and Mn⁴⁺ for ceramics with x?=?0.01 and 0.05.     

溶胶-凝胶一步烧结法合成巨介电常数材料CaCu3Ti4O12

通过溶胶-凝胶法合成了巨介电常数材料类钙钛矿型钛酸铜钙(CaCu3Ti4O12,CCTO)先驱物,采用一步烧结法得到纯度较高的CCTO材料。利用X射线衍射、扫描电子显微镜、介电性能测试和阻抗谱测试对样品进行了结构、微观形貌、介电-频率、阻抗谱等分析表征,并讨论了CCTO的微观电导机理和晶粒晶界的性质,计算了晶界活化能。结果表明,此法制备的CCTO样品具有较好的结晶质量、较高的纯度以及优良的介电性能。     

Colossal dielectric permittivity and relevant mechanism of Bi2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics

Bi_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (BCTO) ceramics with pure perovskite phase were successfully prepared by traditional solid-state reaction technique. Uniformly distributed and dense grains with the grain size of 2–3 μm were observed by SEM. A giant low-frequency dielectric permittivity of ~3.3×10⁵ was obtained. The analysis of complex impedance revealed that Bi_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics are electrically heterogeneous. There are three kinds of dielectric response detected in Bi_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics, which existed in the low-frequency range, middle-frequency range, and high-frequency range, respectively. Through the study of dielectric spectrum at different temperatures, the relatively low activation energy of 0.30 eV for middle-frequency dielectric response was calculated, which suggested that this Middle-frequency dielectric response can be ascribed to grain boundaries response. In view of the analysis of dielectric spectrum at low temperatures, the activation energy of 0.07 eV for high frequency dielectric response was found. This value illustrated that dielectric response at high frequencies was associated with grains polarization effect. The comparison of dielectric spectra of Bi_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics with different types of electrodes revealed that giant low-frequency dielectric constant was attributed to the electrode polarization effect.     

Tailored dielectric tunability of alkali niobate-based antiferroelectric/relaxor-ferroelectric composites

High dielectric tunability, low loss and an appropriate level of dielectric permittivity are basic requirements of ferroelectric materials for tunable microwave devices. In this study, 0.96NaNbO₃-0.04CaZrO₃/0.88(K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃-0.12SrZrO₃, antiferroelectric/relaxor-ferroelectric composites were designed to tailor dielectric tunability. By tailoring the microstructure of the composites, a high dielectric tunability of 51.78% with a low loss of 0.015 was achieved at the composition ratio of 15/85. The nonlinear behaviours of the composites were explored by Johnson model; with increasing antiferroelectric phase, the contribution of the polarization to the free energy was increased between the antiferroelectric and relaxor-ferroelectric. Furthermore, the high resistance layer at the grain boundary region greatly inhibited the long-term migration of electrons and defective ions (mainly oxygen vacancies) in the composites. Therefore, the dielectric loss was remarkably decreased, and the excellent tunability was still preserved in the composite ceramics.     

Effect of Ba2+ substitution on the structural and electrical properties of SrBi4Ti4O15 ceramic

We studied the effect of Barium doping on the structural and electrical properties of SrBi₄Ti₄O₁₅ (SBBT) ferroelectric ceramic. The samples were synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman scattering techniques have been employed to characterize the structural property. Scanning electron microscope images showed plate like grain morphology with random orientation of platelets. Lower Curie temperature and enhanced dielectric constant at the transition temperature were clearly observed with increasing the concentration of Ba²⁺ ion. Detailed studies on the effect of barium on electrical behavior of the SBBT systems have been carried out by the non destructive complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS technique). The Nyquist plots suggest that the grain and grain boundary were responsible in the conduction mechanism of the materials. Ferroelectric measurements revealed that Ba²⁺ doping leads to reduction in the remnant polarization. The piezoelectric coefficients (d₃₃) of the ceramics were enhanced with Ba²⁺ doping.     

The anisotropic conductivity of ferroelectric La2Ti2O7 ceramics

Ferroelectric ceramics with perovskite-like layered structure (PLS) have good potential for high temperature piezoelectric applications due to their high Curie point (T_c). The electrical conduction behaviour of these materials is a critical parameter to consider for practical applications. In this study, we prepared textured ceramics of the typical PLS ferroelectric La₂Ti₂O₇ using spark plasma sintering and investigated the electrical properties using impedance spectroscopy and Seebeck measurements. The results reveal that the bulk resistivity along the parallel direction is much higher than that along the perpendicular direction. The activation energy for conduction (E_a) along the parallel direction is 1.45 eV, which is close to half of the optical band gap and much higher than the 0.67 eV along the perpendicular direction. Electrical conduction along both the directions is dominated by p-type hole conduction. No appreciable contribution of oxide ion conduction to the measured conductivity is observed.     

Fast re-oxidation kinetics and conduction pathway in Spark Plasma Sintered ferroelectric ceramics

The re-oxidation kinetics of BaTiO₃ ceramics sintered by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was investigated using in-situ impedance spectroscopy. Thanks to the flexibility of the SPS process, the grain size of the dense ceramics was tuned from 0.5 μm to 10 μm. The re-oxidation kinetics are found to be very fast regardless of the grain size and a full re-oxidation of the ceramics are achieved after 20 h of exposure to an ambient environment at only 600 °C. The residual density of charge carriers is reduced when using finer starting powders. SPS ceramics made with micrometer size grains demonstrate a residual charge-carrier density that is one tenth that of ceramics made from 10 μm particles. Grain-boundary conduction is dominant through fine-grain SPS ceramics. This latter feature is similar to BaTiO₃ sintered using the conventional route with 10 μm size grain. Finally, the critical grain size for optimal dielectric permittivity is found to shift from 0.7 μm in standard ceramics to 1.5 μm in SPS ceramics.     

Electrical properties of Ag-doped ZnO nano-plates synthesized via wet chemical precipitation method

Ag-doped and pure zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-plates were successfully synthesized via low cost wet precipitation method. The crystalline phases and the morphological features of the synthesized samples were assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy. These techniques coupled with Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) measurements confirmed the incorporation of Ag element into the ZnO matrix. The dielectric loss and ac conductivity were studied as a function of frequency and composition. A detailed analysis of the dielectric loss and ac conductivity as a function of composition were done in a wide frequency range at room temperature. In addition, the charge transport mechanism through the grain and grain boundary regions were investigated using impedance spectroscopy analysis.