Effect of Temperature on the Conduction Mechanism and Dielectric Properties of the Ceramic Ba0.97Bi0.02Ti0.9Zr0.05Nb0.04O3

The ceramic compound Ba 0.97 Bi 0.02 Ti 0.9 Zr 0.05 Nb 0.04 O 3 has been fabricated via a molten-salt method to investigate the effect of temperature on the dielectric properties and conduction mechanism. The XRD results suggest that the investigated compound's main phase crystallizes in a pseudo-cubic structure with a space group (Pm − 3 m). The values of the conductivity at small frequencies increase significantly versus the temperature, indicating that the present ceramic behaves as a semiconductor material. The variation of the ac-conductivity versus the frequency was found to obey the Jonscher power law. The conduction mechanism was explained by the Correlated Barrier Hopping behavior. The complex impedance measurements showed that the Nyquist plots were adjusted by an appropriate equivalent circuit. The electric modulus findings revealed the observed relaxation is thermally activated and this is attributed to the non-Debye relaxation and the mechanism of space charge relaxation of the Maxwell–Wagner process. The experimental data suggest that the permittivity decreases with increasing frequency. The noticed behavior may be explained by extrinsic Maxwell–Wagner effects responsible for electrical conduction. The sample has a high dielectric constant and is a potential candidate for energy storage applications.