Structural and electrical characteristics of dysprosium-doped barium stannate titanate ceramics

Effects of dysprosium (Dy) amphoteric doping on the structural, dielectric and electric properties of barium stannate titanate (BTS) ceramics have been studied. X-ray diffraction analyses reveal that all Dy-doped BTS ceramics exhibit cubic perovskite structure until to 1 mol%. Dy doping at the A site shows lower solubility than that at the B site. SEM surface morphologies display that the Dy B site doping is beneficial for the compact and homogeneous grain distribution. The dielectric constant and loss tangent are reduced with increase of the doping levels. Impedance spectroscopy investigation demonstrates that all samples are insulating at room temperature. Doping alters the full resistive regions of pure BTS ceramics to Doped BTS with insulating grain boundaries and semiconducting bulk regions, but the doping contents has little effect on changing the electric structures.