Tunable Dielectric Properties of BaTiO3/La2O3 Composite Ceramics
BaTiO3/La2O3 nanopowders were synthesized by a low-temperature soft chemical method, and then the BaTiO3/La2O3 composite ceramics were prepared. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to characterize the prepared powders and ceramics. And the dielectric properties of the BaTiO3/La2O3 composite ceramics were studied. The results revealed that some of La3+ ions dissolved into the lattice of BaTiO3 at Ba-site and the rest remained at grain boundaries in oxide form of La2O3. With the content of La2O3 increasing, Curie peak of the BaTiO3/La2O3 composite ceramics moved to a lower temperature, and the dielectric loss of the BaTiO3/La2O3 composite ceramics decreased significantly, while the dielectric tunability still kept a relatively high value. The dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss of BaTiO3/La2O3 composite with 10 at.% La2O3 was 227 and 0.0026 at 25 oC and 10 kHz, meanwhile the tunability was up to 17.4% under the electric field of 20 kV/cm.