Nanocomposite Materials – Ferroelectric Nanoparticles Incorporated into Porous Matrix

Abstract

The aim of this work is to develop a technique of introducing selected ferroelectric materials (TGS, NaNO2, NaNO3, KNO3, ADP and KDP) into porous glasses with various average pore dimensions. The major efforts have been focused on the investigations of the influence of the pore size on physical properties and phase transition of nanocrystals embedded into porous matrix with different methods. The ferroelectrics have been introduced into porous glasses from the melt and a water solution. The results of electrical (dielectric, pyroelectric) and thermal (dilatometric and calorimetric) measurements have shown that the observed sequences of phase transitions in ferroelectric materials embedded into the porous glasses are similar to that in bulk crystals. The relationship between phase transition and melt temperatures versus average values of pore dimensions has been determined. The experimentally observed shift of phase transition temperatures is the superposition of the size effect and pressure effect created by the difference of thermal expansion coefficients of ferroelectrics nanoparticles and glass matrix.