Probing the electrical activity of grain boundaries in acceptor-doped perovskite oxides through ion transport experiments (B05)

• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Solids and Surfaces, Material Characterisation ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 463184206

Project B05 has the overarching aim to determine and understand the space-charge potential at grain boundaries in BaTiO3 ceramics by studying ion transport across and along these interfaces. The space-charge potential is determined for specifically conditioned ceramics by means of impedance spectroscopy, and by means of a new, complementary approach: the characterization of fast cation diffusion along grain-boundaries in BaTiO3 ceramics using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) analysis. The project thus also yields cation diffusion data, information that is necessary for the analysis and simulation of grain-growth, sintering and dopant-accumulation phenomena.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1548: FLAIR - Fermi Level Engineering Applied to Oxide Electroceramics
• Major Instrumentation: Impedance analyzer with high-temperature furnace
• Instrumentation Group: 2720 Impedanz- und Dämpfungsmeßgeräte, Frequenzgangmeßgeräte, Netzwerkanalysatoren
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Project Head: Professor Roger De Souza, Ph.D.