Ferroelectric and dielectric properties of bismuth neodymium titanate ceramics prepared using sol-gel derived fine powders

Dense Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 (BNdT) ceramics of a layered perovskite structure were prepared using sol-gel derived fine powders. Grains in the ceramics are plate-shaped. The BNdT ceramics exhibit saturated ferroelectric hysteresis loops with the remanent polarization (2P(r)) of 43 mu C/cm(2) and the coercive field (E-c) of 67 kV/cm. The dielectric constant and dissipation factor of the ceramics at 100 kHz are 138 and 0.0039, respectively. A broad dielectric peak was observed at the phase transition temperature of around 390 degrees C, and the broading of the peak might come from the oxygen-vacancy-related dielectric relaxation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.