Sintering Temperature Driven Structural, Dielectric, Ferroelectric, and Piezoelectric Properties of 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 Lead-Free Composites

Abstract

Lead-free 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 composites have been synthesized via sol-gel chemical route. We have systematically investigated the influence of sintering temperature on the structural and electrical properties of the BZT-BCT composites. The 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 composites were prepared by combining Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 (BZT) and (Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BCT) powders and sintered at different temperatures 900-14000C. The electrical properties of BZT-BCT composites improve with increasing sintering temperature. The composites sintered at 1300 and 14000C exhibit enhanced ferroelectric properties with spontaneous polarization Ps ~ 11.2 μC/cm2 and 8.66 μC/cm2 respectively. The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of BZT-BCT composites also improve with increasing sintering temperature. The dielectric constant value εʹ ~ 2938, tan δ ~ 0.016 and piezoelectric co-efficient d33 ~ 278 pC/N were measured for BZT-BCT composite sintered at 14000C while observing a considerably high transition temperature of Tc ~ 1200C. The observed results are discussed in terms of structural and microstructural analysis as a function of sintering temperature.