Investigation on Microstructural, Electrical and Optical Properties of Nd-Doped BaCo0.01Ti0.99O3 Perovskite

Abstract

The effects of microstructural, electrical and optical properties of (Ba1−xNdx)(Co0.01Ti0.99)O3 (BNCT) (x = 0.00%, 0.25%, 0.50% and 0.75%) ceramics have been prepared the by sol–gel combustion technique. The structural phase evolution confirms tetragonal to pseudo-cubic phase with 0.50% and 0.75% doping of Nd3+ ions. The Rietveld refinement analysis of BNCT ceramics in terms of bond length Ba-O, Ti-O and Ba-Ti have been discussed, and it also confirmed the lattice parameters systematically. The co-doping of Nd3+ ions for Ba2+ ion at A-site leads to an increase of the energy bandgap (Eg) of the samples lying between 2.93 eV to 3.19 eV, which is ascertained by the blue shift as observed from the UV–visible spectroscopy. The intensity of photoluminescence (PL) emission was found to decrease with an increase in Nd3+ concentrations and the deconvolution of the luminescence peaks were discussed in terms of the role of defects, oxygen vacancies, grain size, and induced lattice strain. The complex permittivity (ɛ′ + jɛ″), impedance plot and AC conductivity (σ′) were examined at room temperature within the frequency range from 1 Hz to 1 MHz.