Room temperature magnetic and dielectric properties of cobalt doped CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics

CaCu3Ti4-xCoxO12 (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4) ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid state reaction, and the effects of cobalt doping on the room temperature magnetic and dielectric properties were investigated. Both X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the presence of Cu and Co rich phase at grain boundaries of Co-doped ceramics. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs of Co-doped samples showed a striking change from regular polyhedral particle type in pure CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) to sheet-like grains with certain growth orientation. Undoped CaCu3Ti4O12 is well known for its colossal dielectric constant in a broad temperature and frequency range. The dielectric constant value was slightly changed by 5 at.% and 10 at.% Co doping, whereas the second relaxation process was clearly separated in low frequency region at room temperature. A multirelaxation mechanism was proposed to be the origin of the colossal dielectric constant. In addition, the permeability spectra measurements indicated Co-doped CCTO with good magnetic properties, showing the initial permeability (mu') as high as 5.5 and low magnetic loss (mu '' < 0.2) below 3MHz. And the interesting ferromagnetic superexchange coupling in Co-doped CaCu3Ti4O12 was discussed. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.