Complex impedance analysis of Ba_0.65Sr_0.35TiO₃ ceramics

Complex impedance spectra of BST ceramics were measured at different temperatures, and the results reveal that all the centers of the semicircles lie below the real axis, and the area of the semicircles decreases with the increasing temperature. Activation energy of grains and grain boundaries was obtained from a classical Arrhenius relation. The results show that the activation energy of grains and grain boundaries of undoped BST ceramics is 0.98 and 0.97 eV, respectively. After doping B2O3-SiO2, the activation energy of grain increased to 1.12 eV, which was due to B2O3-SiO2 redistribution to the grain boundary during the cooling process. The activation energy of grains increased to 1.16 eV after 1 mol% MgO doping, which was caused by the decrease of the oxygen vacancy concentration and the increase of the potential barrier of the grain boundary.