Insulator-to-semiconductor transition of nanocrystalline BaTiO3 at temperatures ≤200 °C

As a classic dielectric material, BaTiO3 is one of the most important materials used in electronic applications. In this work, highly dense BaTiO3 ceramics with an average grain size of 35 nm were prepared, and dielectric and electrical properties were investigated. Microcrystalline BaTiO3 is an insulator at low temperatures; however, nanocrystalline BaTiO3 shows considerable semiconductivity with an activation energy of only 0.27 eV at temperatures ≤200 °C. At room temperature, the conductivity of nanocrystalline BaTiO3 is about fourteen orders of magnitude higher than that of the microcrystalline counterpart. Only by decreasing the grain size, one can transform BaTiO3 from an insulator to a semiconductor.