Electrocaloric effect and pyroelectric properties in Ce-doped BaCexTi1−xO3 ceramics

Abstract

BaCexTi1−xO3 (BCT) ceramics at x = 0.025, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1 were prepared by the traditional solid state reaction route and sintered at 1540 °C for 6 h. The microstructural, dielectric, electrocaloric, and pyroelectric performances of BCT were systematically explored. Hysteresis loops were measured under various temperatures, and the electrocaloric effect (ECE) was calculated for all samples. The results showed that BaCe0.075T0.925O3 had the best ECE which exhibited a large adiabatic temperature change of 0.81 K, an isothermal entropy change of 0.82 JK−1kg−1 and an electrocaloric strength of ∼0.28 Km/MV. Further, the pyroelectric figure of merits (FOMs) were analyzed and the results indicated that BaCe0.1T0.9O3 would be a better candidate for pyroelectric devices which exhibited high pyroelectric coefficient (p) of 7.82 × 10−4Cm−2K−1 and FOM of high detectivity (Fd) of 10.39 μPa−1/2. These results in this work would facilitated the development of the electrocaloric and pyroelectric performance of Ce-doped BaTiO3 ceramics.