Aim of the present research was to apply a solid state reaction route to fabricate Aurivillius-type ceramics described with the formula Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 (BFTO) and reveal the influence of processing conditions on its crystal structure. Pressureless sintering in ambient air was employed and the sintering temperatures were 850 and 1080 °C. It was found that the fabricated BFTO ceramics were multiphase ones. They consisted of two Bim+1Fem-3Ti3O3m+3 phases, namely the phase with m=5 (i.e. the stoichiometric phase) and m=4 (i.e. the phase with a reduced number of layers in the slab). Detailed X-ray diffraction patterns analysis showed that both phases adopted the same orthorhombic structure described with Fmm2 (42) space group. The ratio of weight fractions of the constituent phases (m=5): (m=4) was ~30:70.

In the present research the tool of broadband dielectric spectroscopy was utilized to characterize dielectric behavior of Bi6Fe2Ti3O18(BFTO) Aurivillius-type multiferroic ceramics. Dielectric response of BFTO ceramics was studied in the frequency domain (Δν=0.1Hz – 10MHz) within the temperature range ΔT=-100°C – 200°C. The Kramers-Kronig data validation test was employed to validate the impedance data measurements and it was found that the measured impedance data exhibited good quality justifying further analysis. The residuals were found to be less than 1%, whereas the “chi-square” parameter was within the range χ2~10−7−10−5. Experimental data were analyzed using the circle fit of simple impedance arc plotted in the complex Z”-Z’ plane (Nyquist plot). The total ac conductivity of the grain boundaries was thus revealed and the activation energy of ac conductivity for the grain boundaries was calculated. It was found that activation energy of ac conductivity of grain boundaries changes from EA=0.20eV to EA=0.55eV while temperature rises from T=-100°C up to T=200°C. On the base of maxima of the impedance semicircles (ωmτm=1) the relaxation phenomena were characterized in terms of the temperature dependence of relaxation times and relevant activation energy was calculated (EA=0.55eV).

In the present work the influence of rare earth elements concentration (0-10at-%) on BiFeO3:RE (RE=Gd3+, Dy3+, Nd3+) ceramics were studied. All ceramic powders were synthesized by conventional ceramic method using high purity raw materials (>99,9%), and subsequently sintered by free sintering and cold pressing method. To analyze the powders and ceramics more the XRD, EDS, SEM, and DTA were performed.

Herein this study, the polycrystalline nature of the Aurivillius type structure is studied; primarily, the main objective is to observe the influence of dopant Pr3+ at the Ba2+-site of BaBi2Nb2O9 (BBN) ceramics. The ceramics under investigation were fabricated via the conventional solid-state reaction method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) techniques were used to analyse their morphological structure. It was found that the chemical composition of the ceramic samples corresponds well to the initial stoichiometry of the ceramic powders. An increase in praseodymium content caused a slight decrease in the average size of the ceramic grains. The obtained ceramic materials are described by a tetragonal structure with the space group I4/mmm. The electrical properties of the material have been studied using complex impedance spectroscopy methods in wide temperature and frequency ranges. The analysis of obtained results showed grains and grain boundaries contribute to conductive processes in the material. A possible ’hopping’ mechanism for electrical transport processes in the system is evident from the analysis of results based on Joncher law.

The aim of this research was to fabricate and study the properties of Bi 1-x Dy x FeO 3 (for x = 0, 0.05, 0.07, 0.1) ceramics materials. Simple oxide powders Bi 2 O 3 , Dy 2 O3 and Fe 2 O 3 were used to fabricate Bi 1-x Dy x FeO 3 ceramics by mixed oxide method followed by free sintering. The study presents changes in microstructure and crystal structure as well as in dielectric properties and magnetic properties caused by modification of BiFeO 3 with dysprosium dopant.