The non-ohmic and dielectric behavior evolution of CaCu3Ti4O12 after heat treatments in oxygen-rich atmosphere

CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramics pellets were prepared using the solid-state reaction method, and then they were heat-treated at different temperatures in oxygen-rich atmosphere. The effect of heat treatments on the non-ohmic behaviors and dielectric properties were investigated. EDS analysis results indicate that the percent of oxygen at grain boundaries of CCTO ceramics heat-treated in oxygen-rich atmosphere increases markedly with the rise of temperature and approaches saturation state at about 850 degrees C. The breakdown voltage and nonlinear coefficient also exhibit an increase trend with the rise of temperature. In addition, the calculated results manifest that the height of Schottky potential barrier is closely related to the oxygen content at the grain boundaries. The permittivity and dielectric loss of samples heat-treated present a relatively intense decrease with the rise of temperature. But the permittivity has a behavior just reverse to the non-ohmic characteristics, which can be explained by the Schottky potential barrier theory. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.