Structural Evolution and Electrical Properties of BaTiO₃ Doped with Gd³⁺

BaTiO₃ doped with Gd³⁺ (Ba_1-xGd_xTi_1-x/4O₃) was synthesized using the solid-state reaction method with x = 0.001, 0.003, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, and 0.35 Gd³⁺ (wt. %). The powders were decarbonated at 900 ºC and sintered at 1400 ºC for 8 hours. The tetragonality of the synthesized Gd³⁺-doped BaTiO₃ particles was analyzed. XRD patterns and Raman spectra revealed that the crystal phase of the obtained particles was predominately tetragonal BaTiO₃; the intensity of the Raman bands at 205 cm⁻¹, 265 cm⁻¹, and 304 cm⁻¹ decreased when Gd³⁺ was increased. A secondary phase (Gd₂Ti₂O₇) was found when the Gd³⁺ content was higher than 0.15 wt. %. The capacitance of the sintering pellets was measured at 1 kHz; these values were used to calculate the relative permittivity, the maximum permittivity values were recorded for the samples with x = 0.001, 0.005, and 0.1.

Keywords Gd³⁺; BaTiO₃; Dielectric