Effect of neodymium doping in BaTiO3 ceramics on structural and ferroelectric properties

In this work, single-phase perovskite Ba1−xNdxTiO3 (x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08) ceramic solid solutions were synthesized via solid-state sintering process. Powder X-ray diffraction and Rietveld profile refinement revealed the phase transition behavior from tetragonal (x ≥ 0.04) to cubic (x ≤ 0.06). The charge densities between atoms were also investigated by refined PXRD results. Raman spectra revealed that the intensity was noticed with the increase of Nd3+ concentration in BaTiO3 suggesting a structural transformation. The Egap value decreased with the increase of Nd3+ doping estimated by UV–visible spectra. The SEM images show the grains with fractured morphology. Ferroelectric studies show that the maximum polarization (Pm) and remnant polarization (Pr) gradually decreases after the composition x = 0.04, confirming the transformation from tetragonal to cubic system.