Dielectric and non-ohmic analysis of Sr2+ influences on CaCu3Ti4O12-based ceramic composites

In this study, CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramic composites were prepared through solid-state reaction by adding Sr2+ and removing Cu2+. Application of the Rietveld method and structure refinement revealed the presence of pure CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) phase for x = 0.00 and Sr0.75Ca0.25TiO3 (SCTO) phase for sample x = 3.00. The other samples presented a mixture of both phases. The sample microstructures showed that increasing the amount of SCTO phase led to the formation of cubic CCTO grains. The x = 0.15 sample presented giant dielectric permittivity results, 3.28 × 105, associated with increased grain size and greater grain boundary capacitance, thus indicating it could be a promising material for class III capacitors. On the other hand, greater presence of the SCTO phase displayed potential non-ohmic behavior, as seen with sample x = 2.70, which has a high nonlinear coefficient (α ∼ 30.0) and low current leakage, (IL ∼ 9.0 μA).