Mixed conduction and grain boundary effect in lithium niobate under high pressure

The charge transport behavior of lithium niobate has been investigated by in situ impedance measurement up to 40.6 GPa. The Li+ ionic conduction plays a dominant role in the transport process. The relaxation process is described by the Maxwell-Wagner relaxation arising at the interfaces between grains and grain boundaries. The grain boundary microstructure rearranges after the phase transition, which improves the bulk dielectric performance. The theoretical calculations show that the decrease of bulk permittivity with increasing pressure in the Pnma phase is caused by the pressure-induced enhancement of electron localization around O atoms, which limits the polarization of Nb-O electric dipoles. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.