The non-ohmic and dielectric behavior evolution of CaCu3Ti4O12 after heat treatments in oxygen-rich atmosphere

CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) ceramics pellets were prepared using the solid-state reaction method, and then they were heat-treated at different temperatures in oxygen-rich atmosphere. The effect of heat treatments on the non-ohmic behaviors and dielectric properties were investigated. EDS analysis results indicate that the percent of oxygen at grain boundaries of CCTO ceramics heat-treated in oxygen-rich atmosphere increases markedly with the rise of temperature and approaches saturation state at about 850 °C. The breakdown voltage and nonlinear coefficient also exhibit an increase trend with the rise of temperature. In addition, the calculated results manifest that the height of Schottky potential barrier is closely related to the oxygen content at the grain boundaries. The permittivity and dielectric loss of samples heat-treated present a relatively intense decrease with the rise of temperature. But the permittivity has a behavior just reverse to the non-ohmic characteristics, which can be explained by the Schottky potential barrier theory.     

Synthesis and peculiarities of electric properties of Li1.3Zr1.4Ti0.3Al0.3(PO4)3 solid electrolyte ceramics

The solid electrolyte Li_1.3Zr_1.4Ti_0.3Al_0.3(PO₄)₃ compound was synthesized by a solid-state reaction. The ceramic samples were sintered 1, 2 and 3 h and studied by X-ray and complex impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range from 10⁶ to 1.2 × 10⁹ Hz in temperature range from 300 to 600 K. The investigated compound at room temperature belongs to rhombohedral symmetry (s.g. ) with six formula units in the lattice. Two regions of relaxation dispersion were found. The dispersions are related to the fast Li⁺ ion transport in the grain and grain boundaries of ceramics. Varying of the sintering time affects the density of the ceramics, the values of total conductivity and its activation energy. The values of grain conductivity, its activation energy, and relaxation frequency in grain, dielectric permittivity and dielectric losses are independent from sintering duration of the ceramics. The value of activation energy of grain conductivity and activation energy of relaxation frequency is the same. That can be attributed to the fact that the temperature dependence of the grain conductivity is caused only by the mobility of Li⁺ ions, while a number of charge carriers remains constant with temperature.     

Sensitivity of Dielectric Properties to Wear Process on Carbon Nanofiber/High-Density Polyethylene Composites

We examined the correlation of wear effects with dielectric properties of carbon nanofibers (CNFs; untreated and organosilane-treated)-reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites. Wear testing for the nanocomposites over up to 120 h was carried out, and then, dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss factor of the polymer composites with the increased wear time were studied. Scanning electron microscope and optical microscope observations were made to analyze the microstructure features of the nanocomposites. The results reveal that there exist approximate linear relationships of permittivity with wear coefficient for the nanocomposites. Composites containing silanized CNFs with the sufficiently thick coating exhibited high wear resistance. The change in permittivity was more sensitive to the increased wear coefficient for the nanocomposites with lower wear resistance. This work provides potential for further research on the application of dielectric signals to detect the effects of wear process on lifetime of polymeric materials.     

High permittivity dielectrics for poly(3-alkylthiophene) field-effect transistor devices

In an attempt to disentangle the effects of permittivity and surface energy of the gate insulator (expressed by its dielectric constant k and water contact angle, respectively) on the performance of organic field-effect transistors (FETs), we fabricated top- and bottom-gate FET architectures with poly(3-alkylthiophenes) (P3ATs) of different side-chain lengths, using a range of gate dielectrics. We find that this class of semiconductor, including the short butyl-(C₄-) substituted derivative, is significantly less susceptible to the often detrimental effects that high-k dielectrics can have on the performance of many organic FETs. For bottom gate devices we identify the surface energy of the gate dielectric to predominantly dictate the device mobility.     

The effect of Ca-rich on the electric properties of Ca1+xCu3−xTi4O12 polycrystalline system

Ca_1+xCu_3−xTi₄O₁₂ (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1) ceramics were prepared using the conventional solid-state reaction method. The XRD patterns show that Ca_1+xCu_3−xTi₄O₁₂ compounds are comprised of CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) and CaTiO₃ (CTO) phases compared with the traditional CCTO and the content of CTO phase increases with the increase of x. The micrographs demonstrate that the sample for x = 0 has larger grain size 8-10 μm. However, for the samples (x = 0.25, 0.5, 1), the mean grain size decreases markedly with the increase of CTO phase. The measurement for electric properties indicates that the permittivity values decrease with the increase of Ca atoms, but the breakdown electric field E_b and the nonlinear coefficient α values have a behavior reverse to it. The nonlinear coefficient α reaches 28 for x = 1, yet it is only 11.4 for x = 0 in the current range of 1-10 mA. This can be ascribed to the reduction of grain size and the changes in the electric conductivity of main grains and grain boundary with increasing Ca/Cu ratio. Imbalances between Ca and Cu atoms with Ca in excess can favor the non-ohmic properties in detriment to the dielectric property and a suitable Ca/Cu ratio can be selected to adjust the permittivity and I-V nonlinearity, according to different desired device applications.     

High temperature dielectric properties of cubic bismuth zinc tantalate

Electrical properties of the parent phase in the Bi₂O₃–ZnO–Ta₂O₅ ternary system, cubic Bi_1.5ZnTa_1.5O₇ (α-BZT), P, are investigated using impedance spectroscopy. P has permittivity (?′) of 58, dielectric loss (tan δ) of 0.0023 at 30 °C and 1 MHz; temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) of −156 ppm/°C in the range of 30–300 °C at 1 MHz. A high degree of dispersion in the permittivity at low frequencies (<1 kHz) and temperatures above 500 °C is apparent. Dielectric losses exhibit non-frequency dependence at low temperatures presenting an increase at temperatures above 500 °C. A decrease of the loss occurs with increasing frequency.     

Dielectric oxynitride LaTiOxNy thin films deposited by reactive radio-frequency sputtering

LaTiO_xN_y thin films have been deposited by RF sputtering on (001) Nb-doped SrTiO₃ and (001) MgO single-crystalline substrates at high temperature (T_S = 800 °C) under different nitrogen ratios in the plasma (vol.% N₂ = 0, 25, 71). The band gaps ranged from E_g = 3.30 eV for the epitaxial transparent film containing no nitrogen to E_g = 2.65 eV for the textured coloured film containing a moderate amount of nitrogen. Dielectric characterization in the frequency range [100 Hz-1 MHz], using a metal-insulator-metal structure, has shown a stable permittivity and loss tangent of the epitaxial low-nitrided LaTiO_xN_y film with values of ε′ = 135 and tanδ = 1.2 10^− 2 at 100 kHz (RT).     

Structural, dielectric and electrical conducting properties of CsB′B′′O6 (B′=Nb, Ta; B′′=W, Mo) ceramics

Polycrystalline samples of the defect pyrochlore-type CsB′B′′O₆ (B′=Nb, Ta; B′′=W, Mo) compounds were prepared by solid-state reaction technique. The formation of the compounds was checked by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. All the compounds were found to have a cubic crystal structure at room temperature. Dielectric studies of the tungstate compounds, CsNbWO₆ and CsTaWO₆ indicated a small dielectric anomaly at (183±2) and (328±2) K, respectively, whereas the molybdate compounds, CsNbMoO₆ and CsTaMoO₆ did not exhibit such anomaly. The conductivity measurements indicated ionic transports (t_ion≥0.80) in the high temperature region (≥573 K).