Electrical properties of Ba0.9Ca0.1Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 ceramics induced by SFN heterogeneous seed

The effect of heterogeneous seed crystal on the electrical properties of Ba0.9Ca0.1Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT) ceramics was investigated. The SrFe0.5Nb0.5O3 (SFN) crystal was used as the heterogeneous seed. The seed was prepared by molten salt method. All ceramic samples showed pure perovskite phase (BCZT: x mol% SFN, x = 0-0.5). The samples at x = 0.0-2.0 showed coexistence between rhombohedral and tetragonal phase, both of which transformed to tetragonal phase at x ≥ 3.0. Density values were in the range of 5.59-5.74 g/cm3. The value of dielectric constant (εr) at room temperature of SFN seed-added samples was higher than that of the non-seed sample. The highest value of εr ∼ 10290 was found in SFN seed at 3.0 mol%. The tan δ values tended to decrease when SFN seed content increased and were lower than 0.02 for all samples (1 kHz at room temperature). The lowest value of Ac conductivity (σac) was obtained at the highest SFN seed content. P-E hysteresis loop changed to greatly slim loop with higher SFN seed content. Furthermore, remnant polarization (Pr) and coercive field (Ec) decreased with increasing SFN seed content. In addition, piezoelectric coefficient (d33) and electromechanical coupling coefficient (kt) presented no significant change with the smaller SFN seed content ranging from x = 0.0 to x = 2.0.