The dielectric and non‐Ohmic properties of Na1/2Y1/2Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics sintered under various conditions to obtain different microstructures were investigated. Microstructure analysis confirmed the presence of Na, Y, Cu, Ti, and O and these elements were well dispersed in the microstructure. Na1/2Y1/2Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics exhibited non‐Ohmic characteristics with large nonlinear coefficients of about 5.7–6.6 irrespectively of sintering conditions. The breakdown electric field of fine‐grained ceramic with the mean grain size of ≈1.7 μm (≈5600 V/cm) was much larger than those of the course‐grained ceramics with grain sizes of ≈9.5–10.4 μm (≈1850–2180 V/cm). Through optimization of sintering conditions, a low loss tangent of about 0.03 and very high dielectric permittivities of 18 000–23 000 with good temperature stability were successfully accomplished. The electrical responses of the grains and grain boundaries can, respectively, be well described using admittance and impedance spectroscopy analyses based on the brickwork layer model. A possible mechanism for the origin of semiconducting grains is discussed. The colossal dielectric response was reasonably described as closely correlated with the electrically heterogeneous microstructure by means of strong interfacial polarization at the insulating grain‐boundary layers. The non‐Ohmic properties of Na1/2Y1/2Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics were primarily related to their microstructure, i.e., grain size and volume fraction of grain boundaries.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Dielectric relaxations and electrical responses in NaCu 3 Ti 3 TaO 12 ceramics were investigated as a function of temperature. NaCu 3 Ti 3 TaO 12 ceramics exhibit giant dielectric constants with values of ε ∼ 1.45-2.08 × 10 4 . Two sets of thermally activated dielectric relaxations were observed in low and high temperature ranges. Sintering conditions have an insignificant influence on the microstructure of NaCu 3 Ti 3 TaO 12 ceramics, and have a slight impact on their ε values. Thermally activated electrical responses of grains and grain boundaries have been studied at different temperatures by using complex admittance and impedance spectroscopy analyses, respectively. The low temperature relaxation mechanism is found to correlate closely with electrical response of semiconducting grains; whereas the apparent high ε values are attributed to electrical response of insulating grain boundaries. These results support the internal barrier layer capacitor model to explain the giant dielectric properties of NaCu 3 Ti 3 TaO 12 ceramics. Additionally, high temperature relaxation may be attributed to the sampleelectrode effect and/or defect ordering. N. Sangwong · W. Somphan · P. Thongbai ( ) Materials Science and Nanotechnology Program,