Atomic substitution effects on the structural and vibrational properties of NixPb1-xTiO3: X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering investigations

The effects of the atomic substitution of Pb by Ni in the PbTiO3 ferroelectric perovskite on the vibrational and structural properties was studied using x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. It was observed that for Ni concentrations between 0.0 and 0.4, there is the formation of a solid solution with reduction of the Raman wavenumber of the E(TO1) soft mode and the tetragonallity factor, which influence directly the temperature of the tetragonal ferroelectric to cubic paraelectric phase transition, the Curie temperature. For concentrations greater than 0.4, it is observed the formation of a PbTiO3 and NiTiO3 composite, denounced by the recovering of the both, tetragonallity factor and the E(TO1) soft mode wavenumber. The values of the Curie temperatures were estimated by the Raman scattering measurements for temperatures ranging from 300 to 950 K.