Impedance Spectroscopy of BaBi 2 Nb 2 O 9 Ceramics.

Investigations presented in the present work are concerning the other member of the Aurivillius family, the BaBi2Nb2O9 (BBN). This compound, which seems to be very interesting from the potential applications point of view. The dielectric characterization of this materials and influence of sintering condition on grain structure and properties of those materials had been very widely described in our previous paper. Now we would like to present the hitherto unreported electric properties of BaBi2Nb2O9 ceramics, investigated by the impedance spectroscopy (IS). IS is nondestructive method, which allows to separate grain and grain – boundary effects due to the different frequencies of the relaxation process in grain and grain boundaries. This enables us to determine the temperature dependences of grain (Rg) and grain-boundary (Rgb) resistance and evaluate their respective activation energies (Ea). Additionally a comparison between macroscopic results obtained by Impedance Spectroscopy and miroscopic direct local LC-AFM conductivity measurements are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]