Nanostructured ceramics of BiScO3–PbTiO3 with tailored grain size by spark plasma sintering

The combination of non-conventional methods of synthesis (mechanosynthesis) and sintering (SPS) has been used for the preparation of nanostructured BiScO3–PbTiO3 ceramics with tailored grain size. The key to control grain growth in the nanoscale is to achieve a significant densification during initial stages of the SPS, mainly by particle rearrangement under pressure, before thermally activated processes are triggered. The temperature dependence of dielectric permittivity suggests that the ferroelectric transition might have vanished for the material with the smallest grain size.