Abstract
NSCTO (Na0.5Sm0.5Cu3Ti4O12) ceramics have been prepared by reactive sintering solid-state reaction where the powder was prepared from the elemental oxides by mechanochemical milling followed by conventional sintering in the temperature range 1000-1100 degrees C. The influence of sintering temperature on the structural and dielectric properties was thoroughly studied. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) revealed the formation of the cubic NSCTO phase. By using the Williamson-Hall approach, the crystallite size and lattice strain were calculated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations revealed that the grain size of NSCTO ceramics is slightly dependent on the sintering temperature where the average grain size increased from 1.91 +/- 0.36 mu m to 2.58 +/- 0.89 mu m with increasing sintering temperature from 1000 degrees C to 1100 degrees C. The ceramic sample sintered at 1025 degrees C showed the best compromise between colossal relative permittivity (epsilon ' = 1.34 x 10(3)) and low dielectric loss (tan delta = 0.043) values at 1.1 kHz and 300 K. The calculated activation energy for relaxation and conduction of NSCTO highlighted the important role of single and double ionized oxygen vacancies in these processes.