A comparative study of the structural and electrical properties of CaCu3Ti4O12/reduced graphene oxide ceramic nanocomposites obtained by different sinterization methods

• Grant number: 19/22432-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: March 10, 2020
• End date: August 09, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Miguel Ángel Ramírez Gil
• Grantee: Fernanda Malato Praxedes
• Supervisor: José Francisco Fernández
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEG). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Guaratinguetá. Guaratinguetá , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Instituto de Cerámica y Vidrio (ICV), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/24465-6 - Study of the optical and electrical behavior of advanced ceramic nanocomposites of CaCu3Ti4O12/reduced graphene oxide, BP.MS

Abstract

The manufacturing of nanocomposites has become a trend in materials science due to the possibility of producing new properties as a result of the combination of two or more phases. Recently, the combination of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) with other oxides for manufacturing advanced ceramic composites has been explored. There has been particular scientific and technological interest in the use of carbonaceous compounds as fillers in CCTO. Graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) have a structure that is rich in active sites, which gives these materials a high reactivity. When combined with the excellent electrical properties of CCTO it can be an alternative to enhancing the properties, allowing their application in electroelectronic devices. This proposal is for a three-month internship at the Instituto de Cerámica y Vidrio at Madrid, Spain under the supervision of PhD José Francisco Fernández. The aim of this project is to manufacture advanced nanocomposites of the systems CCTO/GO and CCTO/RGO using different sintering routes. The influence of RGO and GO content, and the sintering method will be evaluated on the (micro)structure and in the electrical properties of CCTO. A comparative study of the (nano)structure and (di)electric properties of the ceramic nanocomposites sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and cold sintering (CS) will be performed. The structure of the nanocomposites will be studied using X-ray difraction (XRD) and the Rietveld refinement method. The microstructure will be analyzed using confocal Raman electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy to analyze the interfaces between CCTO with GO and RGO. Current-voltage (C-V) and impedance spectroscopy measurements will be performed to characterize the electrical and dielectric behavior of the nanocomposites, which is still little explored in the literature. (AU)