Low temperature synthesis and characterization of lanthanide-doped BaTiO3 nanocrystals

Abstract

The vapor diffusion sol–gel (VDSG) method was employed for the room-temperature synthesis of ∼10 nm, aliovalently doped 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 mol% La:BaTiO₃ and 0.4, 0.6, and 1.2 mol% Dy:BaTiO₃ nanocrystals. Maximum ensemble relative permittivities of 176 and 208 were observed in the 0.8 mol% La:BaTiO₃ and the 1.2 mol% Dy:BaTiO₃ nanocrystals, respectively, relative to 89 for undoped BaTiO₃ (at 1 MHz, 25 °C) due to local disorder induced by aliovalent substitution.