Spinodal decomposition-derived giant polarization in TiO2–SnO2 generated from a metastable phase

Abstract

Spinodal decomposition (SD) was incorporated into Nb-doped metastable TiO2–SnO2 to achieve giant interfacial polarization. The dielectric characteristics were analyzed using an equivalent circuit involving electron migration, where the SD bulk is given by the universal dielectric response relation. Both the Nb–TiO2 and the Nb–SnO2 layers showed semiconductive behaviors. With increasing SD treatment temperature, the SD volume fraction increased, as did cation interdiffusion at the SD interface, resulting in a large dielectric loss. The optimal SD temperature was determined as 1100 °C, where the Maxwell–Wagner capacitance showed a very high value of 44.6 μF corresponding to the permittivity at the lowest frequency exceeding 106. Such colossal polarization was considered due to an accumulation of trapped electrons at the Schottky barrier at SD layers with different conductivities.