Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1479052 | Journal of the European Ceramic Society | 2007 | 11 Pages |
The influence of dopants (Cr, Co, Fe, Ni, Y, Er, Tb, Gd, Pr and La) on the crystal structure of barium titanate was studied at room temperature and at 250°C using X-ray diffraction. Fine BaTiO3 powders (Ba/Ti=1.02, size ≈30 nm) have been doped with 1 at% of the foreign element and annealed for 14 and 62 h at two different temperatures: 950 and 1350°C. The room temperature structure of doped BaTiO3 was in any case tetragonal with c/a ratio lower than in the undoped perovskite, but dependent on dopant nature and particle size. For powders calcined at 1350°C, the particle size was in the range 1–5 μm and the decrease in tetragonality was mainly determined by dopant incorporation. Powders treated at 950°C had particles more than one order of magnitude finer (0.1–0.2 μm) and a systematic lowering of the c/a ratio in comparison to the samples annealed at higher temperature was observed. Comparison of the experimental variations of the unit cell edge of cubic BaTiO3 (250°C) with the results of atomistic computer simulations gives indication on the preferential incorporation site of the dopant. In particular, La3+ and Pr3+ prefer to substitute at the Ba site, whereas Tb3+ and Gd3+ give partial substitution at the Ti site. For Er3+ and Y3+ preferential substitution at the Ti site is predicted. For transition metal ions, substitution at the Ti site with oxygen vacancy compensation is confirmed, although their behaviour is less accurately reproduced.