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Abnormal grain growth and electrical properties of Ba-excessive La-doped BaTiO3 ceramics prepared from nanopowder synthesized by sol-gel method

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for dielectric, electronic, magnetic and ferroelectric applications
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Abstract

Nanopowder is frequently employed in the fabrication of miniaturized multilayer devices due to the advantage of small particle size. In this work, sol-gel method was employed for the synthesis of Bax-0.003La0.003TiO3 nanopowders. Abnormal grain growth was observed in the Ba-excessive composition at a relatively low sintering temperature. This result was inconsistent with previous reports that grain growth was suppressed in the Ba-excessive BaTiO3 ceramics. Combining a comparison study, BaCO3, second phase in the powder with x = 1.03, was confirmed to be responsible for the abnormal grain growth. Based on the results of SEM, XRD, TG-DTA and electrical properties, it is reasonable to speculate that BaCO3 and oxygen vacancy formed during reduction sintering together triggered the reactive liquid-phase sintering in the Bax-0.003La0.003TiO3 ceramics with x = 1.03. Thus abnormal grain growth occurred, meanwhile, semiconducting grains was formed.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

  • Abnormal grain growth was observed in the Ba-excessive La-doped BaTiO3 ceramics prepared from nanopowder synthesized by sol-gel method, when sintered in N2 atmosphere at a relatively low temperature.

  • The BaCO3, as second phase, was found to be responsible for the abnormal grain growth.

  • The BaCO3 and oxygen vacancy formed during reduction sintering together triggered the reactive liquid-phase sintering in the Bax-0.003La0.003TiO3 ceramics with x = 1.03.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 12004368), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant No. 2020M671859), the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2108085QE198), the University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province (Grant No. KJ2019A0840, KJ2020A0652, gxyq2022071 and 2021kcszsfkc360) and the Talent Research Foundation of Hefei University (Grant No. 18-19RC36). The authors acknowledge the assistance by the Analytical and Testing Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Hefei University, Hefei, 230601, China

    Hao Zu, Hui Liu, Hui Huang, Liang Yan, Xiaojuan He & Chuanfeng Wang

  2. School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Qiuyun Fu

  3. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Guohua Cao

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  1. Hao Zu
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Zu, H., Fu, Q., Cao, G. et al. Abnormal grain growth and electrical properties of Ba-excessive La-doped BaTiO3 ceramics prepared from nanopowder synthesized by sol-gel method. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 106, 114–120 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-023-06052-7

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