Phase change and ferroelectric nature of microwave‐heated lead cobalt titanate nanoparticles prepared by sol‐gel method

Abstract The lead cobalt titanate (PCT) nanoparticles with varying cobalt concentration from 0.2 to 0.8 were synthesized via sol‐gel technique. Furthermore, these samples were undergone microwave heat treatment at 1023 K for ¾ hours. The powder diffraction study established the structural transformation of PCT nanoparticles from tetragonal (T) to rhombohedral (R) phases at higher cobalt contents. The surface morphology was examined by transmission electron microscope. Moreover, the ferroelectric property was elucidated by means of polarization versus electric field loop with varying temperature. The results revealed that 0.2, 0.6, and 0.8 compositions established the real ferroelectric behavior, whereas 0.4 composition attributed the banana shape hysteresis loop revealing high lossy dielectric material.