Dielectric studies on Sm-modified two-layered BLSF ceramics.

SmxBi3–xTiNbO9 (SBTN) with x = 0 , 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, a novel type of ceramic was prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the formation of a single-phase, and lattice parameters were calculated based on the parent compound Bi3TiNbO9 (BTN). Well-defined grains were seen in the scanning electron microscopy pictures. A kink observed near 400°C for all the samples in the dielectric plot as well as in the stretched exponential parameter (β) vs. temperature plot reveals the dielectric relaxation of the samples. The tolerance factor (t) was found to increase with increase in the size of the A-site (Bi-site) modified ion (Sm). Impedance and modulus spectroscopic studies were conducted to understand the plausible reason for the dielectric relaxation. The relaxation was found to be well-fit with Arrhenius equation. SBTN samples showed lower dielectric loss compared to BTN. The remnant polarization, obtained from experimental, was found to be less than that of theoretically calculated polarization, using Shimakawa's formula. The proposed defect mechanism was interpreted using FTIR and Raman spectroscopic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]