Enhanced ferroelectric properties in Bi0.86Sm0.14FeO3-based ceramics

1 at.% Ti-doping on the B-site combined with a modified rapid liquid-phase sintering technique was conducted to improve the ferroelectric properties in Bi0.86Sm0.14FeO3 multiferroic ceramics. A tenfold increase of the remnant polarization was achieved in the present ceramics compared with the samples without Ti-doing and prepared by conventional solid state sintering, but the dielectric results and conductivities refuted the generally considered mechanism of suppression of leakage current or dielectric loss. Further investigation preferred an explanation of softening effects, which could be induced by donor doping and random orientation of defect dipoles during quenching process of the rapid liquid-phase sintering, and the ferroelectric data of the second heat-treated and polarized samples well supported such explanation. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.