Unveiling the high-temperature dielectric relaxation and conduction mechanisms in sol-gel derived LaFeO3 modified Sodium Bismuth Titanate ceramics

The lead-free NBT (Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3) ceramics doped with LaFeO3 having general chemical composition (1-x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-(x)LaFeO3, where x = 0 and 0.05 (abbreviated as LFNBT0 and LFNBT5) were synthesized by sol-gel technique. These ceramics were characterized using X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy to determine the elemental composition and chemical state of the samples whereas impedance spectroscopy was performed to investigate the electrical properties viz. dielectric constant, dielectric loss, impedance, modulus and conductivity over a wide temperature range (300–775 K) along with frequency (1 Hz - 1 MHz). XPS spectra at room temperature revealed the gradual reduction of valence states i.e., Fe3+ to Fe2+ and Ti4+ to Ti3+ resulting in the formation of oxygen vacancies in LFNBT system. A decrease in dielectric constant as well dielectric loss has been observed at room temperature i.e., from 898 to 541 and 0.75–0.25 respectively at 1 KHz frequency with the incorporation of LaFeO3 in the NBT. A phase transition from ferroelectric to para-electric phase is obtained at 583 K and 623 K for LFNBT0 and LFNBT5 respectively. The negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) behaviour is obtained from the analysis of impedance data. The Cole-Cole plots perceives the grain and grain boundary effect contribution of the materials with the non-Debye type of relaxation which is also confirmed by electric modulus data and aids in understanding of the transport phenomenon. The fitted conductivity data indicated that the conduction in the NBT system is governed by correlated barrier hopping (CBH). XPS analysis and activation energy values obtained from imaginary part of electrical impedance, modulus, and ac conductivity confirmed that the relaxation and conduction processes in LFNBT0 and LFNBT5 ceramics are attribute to the presence of oxygen vacancies.