Dielectric and ferroelectric properties of Ba(ZrxTi1-x)O3 ceramics

It is known that Curie temperature of barium titanate system can be altered by the substitution of dopants into either A- or B-site. Dopants could pinch transition temperature, lower Curie temperature, and raise the rhombohedral-orthorhombic and orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition close to room temperature. This isovalent substitution could improve the ferroelectric properties of the BaTiO3-based system. In this study, barium zirconate titanate Ba(ZrxTi1-x)O-3 (BZT; x=0, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.08) ceramics were prepared by conventionally mixed-oxide method. The ferroelectric properties of BZT ceramics were investigated. Increasing Zr content in the BaTiO3-based compositions caused a decrease in Curie temperature (T-c). At T-c the highest relative permittivity of BZT with an addition of 0.08 mol% of Zr was 12,780. The BZT specimens with the additions of 0.05 mol% and 0.08 mol% of Zr presented the remanent polarization at 25 mu C/cm(2) and 30 mu C/cm(2), respectively. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.