Nd³⁺ Doping Machanism and Dielectric Properties of BCZT Ceramics

(Ba_0.92-xCa_0.08Nd_x)(Ti_0.82Zr_0.18)O₃ (0≤x≤0.02) ceramics samples were prepared based on solid-state reaction methods. XRD, LCR and other techniques were utilized to investigated the microstructure and dielectric properties of the samples. The results show that when the doping amount is 0.015, the second phase occurs. Associated with the experiment date, the analysis indicates that with the increasing Nd³⁺ concentration, the Ti⁴⁺ vacancies compensation mechanism occurred preferentially by the general utility lattice program (GULP), maybe accompanied by a small amount of self-compensation. With Nd³⁺ content increasing, both dielectric constant and dielectric loss decline, and the dielectric peak temperature shiftes to low temperature and the dielectric peak is broaden. With the increasing Nd³⁺ content, the dielectric relaxation characteristics are obtained. This is attributed to the random field induced by off-center Nd³⁺ ions and defect dipoles 4Nd_Ba^•+V_Ti^″″.