Phase formation and electrical properties of Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 ceramics synthesized through a novel combustion technique

High quality Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 (BZT, 0.025≤x≤0.150, step=0.025) ceramic has been prepared by the combustion technique. The raw materials were mixed with CH4N2O and calcined at 1000 °C and sintered at 1375 °C. For Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 with x=0.025, the ceramics exhibited orthorhombic structure at room temperature. The crystal structure was transformed to rhombohedral, tetragonal and cubic phase, respectively with increasing zirconium content. The effect of x on dielectric properties has been studied intensively. It is found that the phase formation, which was affected from zirconium substitution, strongly influences the dielectric behavior. The rhombohedral phase decreases the maximum dielectric constant while the tetragonal phase enhances it. An extrapolation studied revealed the phase transition peaks merged into one peak at x ∼0.094. The highest diffuseness constant of 1.95 was observed in BZT with 0.075 mol% zirconium. This was caused by the broadest dielectric peak of ferroelectric phase transition and the imminent diffusion between ferroelectric phase transition peak and Curie phase transition peak. The ferroelectric properties were sensitive to the phase exhibited in BZT system.