Origin of giant dielectric constant and magnetodielectric study in Ba(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 nanoceramics

Lead free Ba(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O-3 (BFN) ceramics were synthesized by sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction pattern of the samples at room temperature shows a monoclinic structure. The influence of sintering temperature on microstructure and dielectric properties of BFN ceramics were analysed. Microstructure analysis shows well-grown and dense microstructure in 1200 degrees C sintered sample exhibiting enhanced dielectric and magnetodielectric properties. We report a very high dielectric constant (similar to 33,000) with low dielectric loss (similar to 0.45) at room temperature for 1200 degrees C sintered sample at 100 Hz frequency. Cole-Cole plot shows that the grain boundary effect (barrier layer formation) is responsible for such a high value of dielectric constant. The sample was also analyzed by Fe K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy to obtain the Fe oxidation state. This analysis confirms that Fe ions in BFN ceramics are in mixed valance state (Fe2+/Fe3+). Another interesting feature of BFN ceramics is the appearance of room temperature high magnetodielectric response (3.8%) at 7 kOe magnetic field and 100 Hz frequency. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.