Conductivity analysis of Bi4Ti3O12 ferroelectric ceramic: a comprehensive study from the dynamic aspects of hopping conduction

Objectives: We focus solely on a comprehensive conductivity analysis of Bi4Ti3O12 ceramic, in a bid to bring seminal ideas for dielectric components, in particular frequency and temperature ranges. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The synthesis of Bi4Ti3O12 ceramic is based on a mechanical activation method. The following sintering at 1273 K ascertains the Bi4Ti3O12 appears to be of single phase crystallizes in orthorhombic form, whose conductivity is determined from the dielectric function in the context of Kramers-Kronig relation on which of this is measured in the frequency domain at varying temperatures. The evaluation of conductivity data is mainly in terms of activation energy. Findings: We find that the separately discussed dc and ac conductivities in similar manner are best isolated into two distinct temperature regions. Charge transport by hopping to the target localized states is the relevant conduction mechanism in bringing insights into the dynamic responses. Variable range and small polaron hopping models associated with the adiabatic small polaron are the decent choices, each of which explaining the dc conductions in these temperature regions. The former involves distant hops, whereas the latter denotes as nearest-neighbour hopping. The percolation treatments applied in the dc conductivity yield promising results if different percolation expressions are used. The correlation between dc and ac conductions for each temperature is irrefutably made through the Barton-Nakajima-Namikawa fitting. In frequency dependence ac regions, the thermally activated hopping carriers are transported in a correlated to a random manner between preferred sites. Performing a Summerfield ac scaling in these temperature regions leads to different scenarios in view of time-temperature superposition principle. Applications/Improvements: Further experiments are encouraged to support the hopping conduction mechanisms from another aspect in order to prompt the use as energy storage function in the electromagnetic application

Alignment of Carbon Nanotube Additives for Improved Performance of Magnesium Diboride Superconductors

The rapid progress on MgB2 superconductor since its discovery[1] has made this material a strong competitor to low and high temperature superconductors (HTS) for applications with a great potential to catch the niche market such as in magnetic resonant imaging (MRI). Thanks to the lack of weak links and the two-gap superconductivity of MgB2 [2,3] a number of additives have been successfully used to enhance the critical current density, Jc and the upper critical field, Hc2.[4-12] Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have unusually electrical, mechanical and thermal properties[13-16] and hence is an ideal component to fabricate composites for improving their performance. To take advantages of the extraordinary properties of CNTs it is important to align CNTs in the composites. Here we report a method of alignment of CNTs in the CNT/MgB2 superconductor composite wires through a readily scalable drawing technique. The aligned CNT doped MgB2 wires show an enhancement in magnetic Jc(H) by more than an order of magnitude in high magnetic fields, compared to the undoped ones. The CNTs have also significantly enhanced the heat transfer and dissipation. CNTs have been used mainly in structural materials, but here the advantage of their use in functional composites is shown and this has wider ramifications for other functional materials.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. to be published in Advanced Material