The phase transitions and ferroelectric behavior of dense nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics fabricated by pressure assisted sintering

Dense nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics with uniform grain sizes of 30 nm was obtained by pressure assisted sintering. The phase transitions were investigated by Raman scattering at temperatures ranging from −190 to 200 °C. With increasing temperature, similar to 3 μm BaTiO3 normal ceramics, the successive phase transitions from rhombohedral to orthorhombic, orthorhombic to tetragonal, tetragonal to cubic were also observed in 30 nm BaTiO3 ceramics. Especially, the coexistence of ferroelectric tetragonal and orthorhombic phases was found at room temperature. The ferroelectric behavior was further characterized by P–E hysteresis loop. The experimental results indicate that the critical grain size of the disappearance of ferroelectricity in nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics fabricated by pressure assisted sintering is below 30 nm.