Defect chemistry and dielectric behavior of Sr0.99Ce0.01Ti1−xO3 ceramics with high permittivity

Sr0.99Ce0.01Ti1-xO3 (SCT, x = 0, ± 0.0025, ± 0.0050, 0.0075) ceramics were prepared by solid state reaction methods and sintered in air atmosphere at different temperatures, with a soaking time of 2 h. The dielectric properties of all samples presented excellent temperature independence over a broad temperature range from 25 to 330 ℃ and frequency independence between 10 kHz and 1 MHz. Sr0.99Ce0.01Ti0.9925O3 (SCT0.9925) ceramics sintered in air atmosphere exhibited a high permittivity (~5400) and a low dielectric loss (~0.01) measured at room temperature and 1 kHz. XPS and complex impedance spectroscopy analysis confirmed that the high permittivity and low dielectric loss were attributed to the fully ionized oxygen vacancies and giant defect-dipoles in Ti-deficient samples. However, a higher dielectric loss of Ti-rich samples is owing to the destruction of giant defect dipoles, in which highly localized electrons were transformed into hopping electrons.