Distinct microstructure and property evolution of 0.76(Bi_(0.5)Na_(0.5))TiO_(3)-0.24SrTiO_(3) ferroelectric ceramics synthesized with different TiO_(2) reactants

Single phase 0.76(Bi_(0.5)Na_(0.5))TiO_(3)–0.24SrTiO_(3) ferroelectric ceramics have been synthesized with homogenous anatase and hierarchical rutile TiO_(2) raw reactants(BNST-A and BNST-R).Either calcined powder persists the microstructure characteristics of raw reactants.As the result,when the sintering temperature increases from 1000 to 1200℃,the average grain size and density of BNST-A increase from 0.49 to 1.48μm and 5.02 to 5.61 g/cm^(3),while those of BNST-R from 0.86 to 1.44μm and 5.37 to 5.61 g/cm^(3).BNST-A illustrates a predominant ergodic relaxor state,and BNST-R prefers a non-ergodic relaxor state,as evidenced by the distinct polarization-electric field loops and current-electric field curves.Especially,such a distinct ferroelectric state is independent of sintering temperature.It is believed that the special hierarchical microstructure of rutile TiO_(2) reactant is beneficial to form denser ceramics with larger grains,and thus suppresses the contributions of polar nanoregions and defect-induced built-in field to ferroelectric property,leading to non-ergodic relaxor state.This work clearly demonstrates the nonnegligible effects of TiO_(2) reactants on the microstructure and properties of BNST ferroelectric ceramics.