The electrode/sample contact effects on the dielectric properties of the CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramic

In this paper, the contact effects at the electrode/sample interfaces on the dielectric properties of the CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramic were studied. The experimental results provide clear evidence that the colossal dielectric constant in CCTO is related to the ceramic itself; however, it may also partly originated from the electrode/sample contact effects which depends on the surface resistivity of the sample. When the surface resistivity of the ceramic is as high as 1.2 × 108 Ω cm, no obvious mobile space charges can be observed, and the dielectric properties of the sample is inert to the different metal electrodes and various sample thicknesses, indicating the colossal dielectric constant (near 2000 at 10 kHz) at room temperature is due to the true properties of the ceramic itself. However, after the surface resistivity is lowered to 3.1 × 107 Ω cm through post-annealing the sample in N2 atmosphere at 750 °C, obvious mobile space charges can be observed, and the dielectric properties of the sample become sensitive to the different types of contacts. The dielectric constant of the sample with Pt electrode shows a significant enhancement (up to 5000 at 10 kHz), comparing with that of the sample with Ag electrode. Clearly, in this case, the extrinsic contact contributes partly to the colossal dielectric constant of CCTO ceramic.