Impedance response and high temperature dielectric relaxation behavior in lead barium strontium zirconate ceramics

(Pb 0.9 Ba 0.1− x Sr x )ZrO 3 ( x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) ceramics were prepared via a traditional solid-state reaction route. X-ray pattern of all sintered samples confirmed the formation of pure single phase. The temperature dependent dielectric study shows the antiferroelectric phase stability is enhanced and the temperature range of ferroelectric phase is reduced with increasing Sr 2+ /Ba 2+ concentration. Dielectric and impedance measurements were studied on the high temperature relaxation, the frequency dependent maxima in the imaginary part of impedance are found to obey an Arrhenius law with activation energy of 0.98–1.36 eV, and the conduction is a thermally activated process with activation energy 1.04–1.22 eV. Such a value of activation energy suggests that the relaxation mechanism is dominated by the dipole conduction process, which was interpreted by the dynamic thermal process of ionized oxygen vacancies.