Role of oxygen vacancy on rapid densification and giant dielectric properties of flash sintered Ca2+ and Ta5+ co-doped TiO2 ceramics

(Ca, Ta) co-doped TiO2 ceramics were successfully prepared using flash sintering technology, and the effects of oxygen vacancies on the rapid densification and giant dielectric properties were studied. The results suggest that the maximum volume fraction of oxygen vacancies in flash-sintered samples is approximately 10%. Oxygen vacancies decrease the barrier energy level of atomic diffusion and provide convenient diffusion channels, resulting in rapid densification of the sample within 24 min at 1100 °C. All flash-sintered samples exhibit high relative density, exceeding 95%. Oxygen vacancies promote the electron-pinning defect dipole effect at low temperatures. As the temperature increases, carriers such as oxygen vacancies move to the grain boundary, forming an internal barrier layer capacitance effect. The optical dielectric constant reaches 7.25 × 104, and the dielectric loss drops to 0.09. Oxygen vacancy play an important role in both flash sintering technology and the giant dielectric properties of co-doped TiO2 ceramics.