Structural and dielectric studies of Li2SiO3 ceramic

Abstract Lithium metasilicate (Li 2 SiO 3 ) ceramic was prepared via solid-state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction pattern showed that Li 2 SiO 3 ceramic is orthorhombic. Microstructural analysis by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) shows that the compound has well defined grains separated by grain boundaries. Dielectric studies of the compound shows a strong frequency dispersion of permittivity in the low frequency region followed by a nearly frequency independent behavior in the high frequency region. The dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss at 5 MHz are 25.66 and 0.033 at room temperature. The activation energy ( E a ) of the sample calculated from the plot of ac conductivity versus inverse of absolute temperature was found to be less than 1 eV. The smaller activation energy of the compound within moderate temperature range suggests the presence of singly ionized oxygen vacancies in the conduction process.