Preparation and dielectric properties of Ce-doped Ba(Zr_x Ti_1-x)O₃ ceramics

Abstract Ba(Zr _x Ti_1-x )O₃ ceramics with different Zr/Ti ratios of 1:9, 2:8, 2.5:7.5, 3.5:6.5, and 4:6 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.35, 0.4) were prepared by sol-gel technology by using inorganic zirconium as raw material. XRD analyses show that the peaks of Ba(Zr _x Ti_1-x )O₃ ceramics move to smaller degree when Ti was replaced by Zr. With a Zr/Ti ratio of 2:8, the main peak appears at 31.20°and it is the strongest among all other Ba(Zr _x Ti_1-x )O₃ ceramics. The results of the dielectric properties of Ba(Zr _x Ti_1-x )O₃ ceramics indicate that,among different Zr/Ti ratios, 2:8 is the best one, whose dielectric constant reaches 3,656, and the dielectric loss is only 6.2 × 10^-3. Ce-doped Ba(Zr_0.2,Ti_0.8)O₃ ceramics were also prepared by sol-gel technology, and the improvements of dielectric-temperature properties by Ce-doping are most noticeable. The Ce-doped Ba(Zr_0.2,Ti_0.8)O₃ reflects more stability of dielectric properties to the temperature than the undoped ones; meanwhile, after Ce-doping,the dielectric constant is increased as the dielectric loss is decreased.