Studies of structural, dielectric and impedance characteristics of Gd modified Bi4Ti3O12 Aurivillius ceramic

The synthesis and characterization (structure, dielectric, electrical properties) of ceramic technology prepared gadolinium modified bismuth titanate of a composition Bi4-x GdxTi3O12 (x = 0, 0.1) have been reported in this paper. The development of a single-phase orthorhombic structure with a space group Aba2 has been confirmed by analysing room temperature X-rays diffraction (XRD) patterns. The plate-like microstructures of the samples are revealed by scanning electron microscope, which confirmed the layered perovskite structure of Bi4-x GdxTi3O12 (x = 0,0.1). The crystallite size (D) and strain (& epsilon;), calculated from the W-H (Williamson-Hall) plots, are found to be 64 nm, 0.001, respectively for BIT (bismuth titanate, Bi4Ti3O12) and 53 nm, 0.009, respectively for Gd modified BIT. Some obtained electrical parameters (dielectric constant, conductivity, electrical imped-ance, and modulus) of BIT and Gd modified BIT have provided useful data on the conduction mechanism, structure-properties relationship, etc. The Nyquist plots confirm the contribution of grain boundary and the bulk effect to the properties (physical) of the materials.