The physical properties and direct current conductivity of titanium (IV) dioxide ceramic doped lithium (II) nickel dioxide

Abstract

A series of ceramic based on xLi2O-(50-x)NiO–50TiO2 (0 = x = 50 mol%) system have successfully been fabricated using solid state reaction method at various sintering temperature from 700?C to 1100?C. The occurrence of crystalline phase and the analysis of surface morphology are determined using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) method and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) respectively. Meanwhile, the ceramic density is determined using the Archimedes method and the hardness using Vickers’s hardness test with 9.807 N of load. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method is used to determine the porosity of the ceramic via adsorption and desorption of the nitrogen through the ceramic. The dc conductivity of the samples at room temperature is measured using four point probe method. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) result shows that the major phase occurrence is Li2TiO3 while NiTiO3 and Li2NiO2 occur as the minor phases. The morphology of ceramic shows that the sample sintered at 1100?C exhibits the largest grain size which is due to the increasing of solid state neck formation between the grains. It is found that the density is in the range of 3.18 gcm-3 to 5.10 gcm-3, increasing with the increasing of sintering temperature and NiO content. However, the hardness is observed in the range of 0.3707 GPa to 1.1673 GPa depending on the sintering temperature and Li2O content. The porosity of the ceramic is found in the range 2.5250 m2g-1 to 5.4405 m2g-1 also depending on the sintering temperature and the contents of Li2O. Meanwhile, the dc conductivity of the ceramic is found to be between 2.254x10-3 Sm-1 to 9.126x10-3 Sm-1, increasing with the increase of sintering temperature and Li2O contents.