Nd-doped barium titanate ceramics with various Ti/Ba ratios prepared by sol-gel method

The Nd-doped BaTiO3 nanocrystalline powders and ceramics with different Ti/Ba ratios were prepared by sol-gel method. Phases and microstructures of the Nd-doped BaTiO3 based powders and ceramics were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM methods. The results revealed that the powders synthesized by sol-gel method were nanometer scale (30-60 nm) and were mainly composed of cubic BaTiO3 with a small amount of BaCO3. After sintering at high temperature, both cubic BaTiO3 and BaCO3 were transformed into tetrahedron BaTiO3 phase. The dielectric properties of the ceramics were also determined and the influence of Ti/Ba ratio on the dielectric properties was discussed. The T-c did not change with the variation of Ti/Ba ratio, while the epsilon(max) increased firstly and then decreased. The excess TiO2 is benefit for the modification of ceramics' microstructure and dielectric properties.