Influence of Sr2+ dopant on microstructure and electric properties of (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Zr0.1Ti0.9)O3 (BCZT) ceramics

Abstract

The discovery of (BaxCa1-x)(ZryTi1-x)O3 lead-free ceramics drawn a lot of attention to those novel materials because of their excellent piezoelectric properties. However, quite a little attention has been paid to other features of the material. This article reports a wide range of research, including composition, structure and microstructure, dielectric response and impedance spectroscopy in order to systematize and expand knowledge about this peculiar ceramics and strontium doping effect on its properties. In order to test that influence a series of samples with various strontium concentration, precisely the admixtures of 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06 mol% were prepared, as well as basic ceramics to compare obtained results.