Barium calcium titanate solid solution: Non-isothermal kinetic analysis of Ca2+ incorporation into BaTiO3

Abstract

This paper investigates the non-isothermal kinetic analysis of Ca2+ incorporation into BaTiO3 in Ba0.85Ca0.15TiO3 (BCT15) lead-free ferroelectric material, prepared via the solid-state reaction method, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique at multiple heating rates. The X-ray diffraction technique (XRD) has demonstrated the formation of pure cubic BaTiO3 phase when the BCT15 precursors were calcined at 1000 °C. Incorporation kinetics was analyzed by Freidman, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) isoconversional methods. The results indicate that the incorporation process was carried out through a single-step. The kinetic parameters were determined through the combined kinetic analysis method. It was established that the incorporation mechanism follow perfectly the Avrami-Erofeev (A3) kinetic model. The values of activation energy (Ea) and preexponential factor (A) were found to be 388 kJ/mol and 4.1 × 1017 min−1, respectively. The obtained kinetic parameters are critical to better understand and optimize the incorporation process for BCT15 preparation with suitable and promising properties.