Physical properties of (1−x)Ba0.95Pb0.05TiO3+xCo2O3 (x=0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0wt%) ceramics

The paper reports studies of the (1−x)Ba0.95Pb0.05TiO3 – xCo2O3 (x≤0.02) ceramics. Results of X-ray powder diffraction, dielectric, magnetic and IR measurements, as well as ab initio simulations are presented. The Co-doping induces small decrease of the (c/a) tetragonality of the perovskite lattice and leads to the gradual shift of the ferroelectric transition temperature from 398 K for x=0 down to 357 K for x=0.02. The conductivity activation energies are in the range 0.8–0.9 eV in agreement with the calculations. The high-temperature conductivity can be ascribed by the migration of oxygen vacancies introduced to compensate the charge deficiency due to Co3+ valence at the B-site of the perovskite lattice. At the base of present data we can say that BPTC is promising new multiferroic material with weak coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric properties.