One of the important lead-free ferroelectric solid solutions, sodium bismuth

titanate–barium titanate Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3–BaTiO3 (NBT–BT) was grown by the

conventional flux technique. In order to study the role of oxygen vacancies on the

dielectric/ferroelectric properties, some of the crystal samples oriented along (001)

and (100) planes were subjected to oxygen and nitrogen annealing processes to

create different concentrations of oxygen vacancies in the samples. Dielectric and

its loss measurements were carried out to analyze the role of oxygen vacancies and

their corresponding dielectric behaviour on NBT–BT crystals. Electron energy loss

spectra revealed that increasing oxygen vacancies had reduced the oxidation states

of Ti. X-ray rocking curve analysis has confirmed the degradation in the structural

quality also on increasing the oxygen vacancies. Effect of Oxygen Vacancies on Ferroelectric Behaviour of Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3–BaTiO3

Single Crystals. J.B.Babu, G.Madeswaran, X.L.Chen, R.Dhanasekaran: Materials

Science and Engineering B, 2009, 156[1-3], 36-41