Dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of Nb5+ doped BCZT ceramics

• Average grain size of BCZT ceramic decreased with the increasing Nb5+ doping.
• Dielectric constant value is enhanced with Nb5+ doping.
• Dielectric loss of BCZT − x Nb5+ ceramics was less than 0.03 at room temperature (1 kHz).
• Piezoelectric coefficient decreased with the increasing Nb5+ doping.
• The relaxation behavior is enhanced with the doping of Nb5+.

This work investigated the electrical properties of Nb5+ (0.0–1.0 mol%) doped with Ba0.90Ca0.10Zr0.10Ti0.90O3 while adding 1 mol% of Ba0.90Ca0.10Zr0.10Ti0.90O3 seeds. The mixed powder was ball milled for 24 h, calcined and sintered at 1200 °C for 2 h and 1450 °C for 4 h, respectively. The XRD patterns of the ceramic samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction. The electrical properties of ceramics were measured and the results indicated that all samples show a pure perovskite phase with no secondary phase. Density and average grain size values were in the range of 5.60–5.71 g/cm3 and 12.62–1.86 μm, respectively. The highest dielectric constant, ϵr at room temperature (1 kHz) was 4636 found at 1.0 mol% Nb. The dielectric loss, tan δ was less than 0.03 for all samples at room temperature (1 kHz). Other electrical properties, Pr, d33 and kp values were decreased with Nb doped relates to the decreasing grain size in BCZT ceramics. Moreover, the degrees of phase transition diffuseness and relaxation behavior were observed in the higher Nb doping.

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