Impedance spectroscopy and mechanical response of porous nanophase hydroxyapatite–barium titanate composite

•Porous nanophase composites were developed with exceptional combination of functional properties.•Tailored spark plasma sintering conditions led to good mechanical strength in the porous sample.•SPS formed porous HA–BaTiO3 nanocomposite is a potential alternative for electroactive implants.

The present study aims to develop the porous nanophase hydroxyapatite (HA)–barium titanate (BT) composite with reasonable mechanical and electrical properties as an electrically-active prosthetic orthopedic implant alternate. The porous samples (densification ~ 40–70%) with varying amounts of BT (0, 25, 35 and 100 vol.%) in HA were synthesized using optimal spark plasma sintering conditions, which revealed the thermochemical stability between both the phases. The reasonably good combination of functional properties such as compressive [(236.00 ± 44.90) MPa] and flexural [(56.18 ± 5.82) MPa] strengths, AC conductivity [7.62 × 10− 9 (ohm-cm)− 1 at 10 kHz] and relative permittivity [15.20 at 10 kHz] have been achieved with nanostructured HA-25 vol.% BT composite as far as significant sample porosity (~ 30%) is concerned. Detailed impedance spectroscopic analysis was performed to reveal the electrical microstructure of developed porous samples. The resistance and capacitance values (at 500 °C) of grain (RG, CG) and grain boundary (RGB, CGB) for the porous HA-25 vol.% BT composite are (1.3 × 107 ohm, 3.1 × 10− 11 F) and (1.6 × 107 ohm, 5.9 × 10− 10 F), respectively. Almost similar value of activation energy (~ 1–1.5 eV) for grain and grain boundary has been observed for all the samples. The mechanism of conduction is found to be same for porous monolithic HA as well as composite samples. Relaxation spectroscopic analyses suggest that both the localized as well as long range charge carrier translocations are responsible for conduction in these samples. The degree of polarization of porous samples has been assessed by measuring thermally stimulated depolarization current of the poled samples. The depolarization current is observed to depend on the heating rate. The maximum current density, measured for HA-25 vol.% BT sample at a heating rate of 1 °C/min is 2.7 nA/cm2. Formation of oxygen vacancies due to the reduced atmosphere sintering contribute to the space charge polarization, which is obtained as the dominant polarization mechanism in the developed porous samples. Overall, such integrated functional responses do establish spark plasma sintered porous HA–BaTiO3 nanocomposite as potential alternative for electroactive prosthetic orthopedic implants.