INFLUENCE OF DOPANTS ON BARIUM BISMUTH TITANATE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES

Abstract

The Aurivillius structure has capability to host ions of different size, so a large number of different dopants can be accommodated in the BaBi4Ti4O15 (BBT) lattice. It was detected that various substitutions of Bi3+ and Ti4+ ions can affect the change of microstructure and electrical properties of barium bismuth titanate ceramics. Doping of BBT ceramics is very important due to possibility to obtain materials with required characteristics. In this work, pure and niobium and lanthanum doped barium bismuth titanate powders were prepared by conventional solid state method, according to formulas BaBi4-xLaxTi4O15 and BaBi4Ti4-5/4xNbxO15 (x=0.05). Obtained powders were uniaxially pressed and sintered at different temperature depending on the composition. The influence of dopant type on structure change, grain size reduction and microstructure development was analyzed. XRD measurements showed formation of orthorhombic BBT crystal structure without presence of secondary phase in doped samples. Dopants had influence on shifting of temperature phase transition peaks to the lower temperatures, broadening of ε - T curves and increasing relaxor behavior of phase transition. Temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity pointed out that niobium as a donor dopant decrease conductivity and lanthanum as a isovalent dopant increase conductivity of BBT ceramics. Obtained results were analyzed in the frame of the influence of the grain and grain boundaries contribution to the dielectric behavior through impedance spectroscopy.