Electrical and dielectric properties of Na1/2La1/2Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics prepared by high energy ball-milling and conventional sintering

We report on the measurements of the electrical and dielectric properties of Na1/2La1/2Cu3Ti4O12 （NLCTO） ce- ramics prepared by high energy ball-milling and conventional sintering without any calcination steps. The x-ray powder diffraction analysis shows that pure perovskite-like CCTO phase is obtained after sintering at 1025 ℃-1075 ℃. Higher sintering temperatures result in multi-phase ceramics due to thermal decomposition. Scanning electron microscope observations reveal that the grain size is in a range of - 3 μm-5 μm for these ceramics. Impedance spectroscopy measurements performed in a wide frequency range （1 Hz-10 MHz） and at various temperatures （120 K-470 K） are used to study the dielectric and electrical properties of NLCTO ceramics. A good compromise between high ε′ （5.7 ×10^3 and 4.1 × 10^3 at 1.1 kHz and 96 kHz, respectively） and low tan δ （0.161 and 0.126 at 1.1 kHz and 96 kHz, respectively） is obtained for the ceramic sintered at 1050 ℃. The observed high dielectric constant behavior is explained in terms of the internal barrier layer capacitance effect.