Influence of aging on electrocaloric effect in Li+ doped BaTiO3 ceramics

Abstract

Aging creates significant changes in the properties of the ferroelectric materials such as dielectric and piezoelectric properties. However, the influence of aging on the electrocaloric effect (ECE) has not yet been investigated. In this work, we investigate the effect of the aging on the ECE in acceptor (Liþ) doped BaTiO3 ceramics. We observe that aging induced defect polarization (PD) reduces the saturation polarization of the doped samples until Tc ¼ 115 C. Above that temperature PD loses its effectiveness and material behaves like a fresh sample. Suppression of polarization below TC due to aging effect results in a sharper slope change in the temperature dependence of electrical polarization in aged samples which causes an increase in the electrocaloric temperature change of Liþ doped BaTiO3 ceramics up to 23% at TC. Above a critical Li doping amount, both negative and positive electrocaloric effect are observed in the same sample.