Effect of SiO2/B2O3 Ratio on the Crystallization Behavior and Dielectric Properties of Barium Strontium Titanate Glass–Ceramics Prepared by Sol–Gel Process

Abstract

Ferroelectric glass–ceramics, with a basic composition 90 wt.% (Ba0.65Sr0.35)TiO3−10 wt.% (B2O3−nSiO2) (n = 0.5, 1, 3, 5) were synthesized by the sol–gel method and their phase development and dielectric properties were investigated by differential thermal analysis, x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, dielectric temperature curves and impedance spectroscopy. From the differential thermal analysis, glass transition and crystallization behavior can be observed. From the x-ray diffraction study, two crystalline phases (Ba,Sr)TiO3 and Ba2TiSi2O8 were formed over the entire composition range of the glass–ceramics. In addition, the main crystal phase has undergone a transformation from (Ba,Sr)TiO3 to Ba2TiSi2O8 with the increase of n. A typical structure in which the crystal phase was surrounded by a glassy matrix has been observed in the scanning electron microscope images. As a result of temperature dependent dielectric property measurements, the dielectric constant increased obviously with the increase of n from 0.5 to 1. Further increasing n led to a reduction of the dielectric constant, which is in coincidence with the variation of the intensity of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 phase with n. According to the impedance spectroscopy analysis and the activation energy calculation, the relaxation peak in both Z″ and M″ data should be attributed to the crystal–glass interface, and the change of conduction mechanism with the increase of SiO2/B2O3 ratio may be attributed to the corresponding transition of the main crystal phase.