Structure
The solid can exist in five phases, listing from high temperature to low temperature: hexagonal, cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, and rhombohedral crystal structure. All of the phases exhibit the ferroelectric effect except the cubic phase. The high temperature cubic phase is easiest to describe, consisting of octahedral TiO6 centres that define a cube with Ti vertices and Ti-O-Ti edges. In the cubic phase, Ba2+ is located at the center of the cube, with a nominal coordination number of 12. Lower symmetry phases are stabilized at lower temperatures, associated with the movement of the Ba2+ to off-center position. The remarkable properties of this material arise from the cooperative behavior of the Ba2+ centres.
Read more about this topic: Barium Titanate
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