Effects of non-stoichiometric defects on the dielectric properties of (Ba0.5Sr0.5)xTiO3-ZnGa2O4 composite ceramics

Abstract In order to explore the effects of non-stoichiometric defects on the dielectric properties of composite ceramics, 70 wt% (Ba0.5Sr0.5)xTiO3-30 wt%ZnGa2O4 ((BS)xT50-ZG, x = (Ba + Sr)/Ti = 0.99, 1.00, 1.01 and 1.05) composite ceramics were fabricated by the traditional sintering technique. The association between structure and dielectric properties has been studied. The results show that the distortion of the crystal lattice brought by the partial Schottky defects, namely [V″Ba,Sr–V˙˙O]× and [V′′′′Ti–2V˙˙O]×, induces a decrease in the Curie temperature of (BS)xT50-ZG composite ceramics. The orientation of the elastic dipoles brought by oxygen vacancies causes the pinning of the domain walls, which reduces the dielectric loss at low frequencies. Tunability is related to the dipole polarization caused by [V″Ba,Sr–V˙˙O]× and [V′′′′Ti–2V˙˙O]× defect complexes. In addition, compared with the composite ceramic with x = 1, the Q values of the composite ceramics with x 1 decreases due to the deterioration of the microstructure homogeneity and the enhancement of the disorder of the B-site cations in (BS)xT50.