Thermal stability and improved electrical properties in Sr1-xGd2x/3Bi4Ti4O15 ceramics

We report improved electrical properties in Sr1-xGd2x/3Bi4Ti4O15 (SGBT-x, 0 <= x <= 0.1) ceramics prepared by solid state reaction route. The X-ray diffraction pattern suggested that the substitution lead to the formation of layered structure. Plate-like morphologies with decreasing grain size were clearly observed for all the samples. The temperature dependent dielectric analysis reveals that dielectric constant increases with increasing Gd3+ content up to x <= 0.08. Even excellent electrical properties (e.g., piezoelectric constant (d(33)) similar to 19 pC/N, remanent polarization (2P(r)) similar to 0.38 mu C/cm(2) and Curie temperature (T-c) similar to 550 degrees C) are simultaneously obtained in the ceramic with x = 0.08. Additionally, thermal annealing studies indicated that the piezoelectric constant (d(33)) of the SGBT ceramics remains almost unchanged up to the transition temperature in all compositions. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.