Synthesis and performance of tetragonal Ca2+ doped BaTiO3 fine powders

According to the literature reports, synthesis of Ba1-xCaxTiO3 (BCT) ceramics with good microstructure and satisfactory dielectric property is still a challenge. So, a facile tartaric coprecipitation method in the study is proposed to prepare BCT fine powders with homogeneous morphology, high crystallinity and tetragonality. The effect of Ca2+ doped concentration on microstructure and dielectric property was studied. Results showed that, the characteristics of the raw BCT powders greatly affected the microstructure and site occupancy of Ca2+ in BT ceramics, which subsequently played a crucial rule on the dielectric performance. Owing to the good properties of the raw BCT powders, the as-obtained ceramics demonstrated good microstructure with uniform grain size of ∼1 μm, defined grain boundaries and densely packed without any cracks or pores. In addition, they also demonstrated much improved dielectric properties with good εr, low tanδ, definite increase of Tc, suggesting they are compatible in application of MLCC with high performance.