A wide-frequency range dielectric tuning of BaTiO₃ by embedding metal nanocrystals

Fe nanocrystals (NCs) were embedded into the epitaxial BaTiO₃ (BTO) matrix. According to optimized growth processes, a novel nanocomposite system was constructed, which consisted a well epitaxial BTO layer and three-dimensional Fe NCs. Based on this, the different dielectric response in the regions of low temperature-high frequency and low frequency-high temperature were revealed by the contribution of hopping and interfacial polarizations, respectively. With the increased amount of Fe NCs, the obvious enhancement in the low-frequency conductivity, middle frequency capacitance, and high-frequency inductive effect was found. The embedded metal NCs play an important role in tuning the dielectric behaviors and AC conductivity of oxide dielectrics. This significant rectification effect in wide-frequency ranges opens up a new direction for designing embedded nano-capacitors.