Raman and AFM piezoresponse study of dense BaTiO3 nanocrystalline ceramics

Dense nanocrystalline BaTiO3 (BT) ceramics with grain sizes (GSs) below 100 nm obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS), were investigated by micro-Raman spectroscopy in order to obtain information about the changes in the local order induced by size effects. The obtained spectra in the range 80-700K showed the presence of all the crystalline phases of BaTiO3, even in the finest structure (50 nm grain size ceramic), with particularities attributed to the high density of non-ferroelectric grain boundaries. The AFM piezoresponse study incontestably proved the ferroelectric switching at local scale in nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics at room temperature.