Preparation and electro responsive properties of Mg-doped BaTiO 3 with novel morphologies

In this work, spherical, urchin-like, pit-like Mg-doped BaTiO3 were prepared by hydrothermal method through adjusting the pH to 2, 4, 7, respectively. The structure characterizations of SEM and XRD showed that the particles sizes were 0.7–1.0 μm, and their crystal phases were cubic perovskite. According to the ICP results, the chemical formula of particles were determined as BaMgxTiyO3 (x = 0.014, 0.015, 0.024; y = 0.986, 0.985, 0.976; x + y = 1). The electro response properties of the three particles in the gelatin hydrogel elastomers were investigated by testing the change of the storage moduli of corresponding elastomers under the presence or absence of an electric field. The results indicated that the shape and structure of Mg-doped BaTiO3 particles played an important roles on their electro responsive properties which strengthened in the order of spherical < pit-like < sea-urchin.