H2O-induced degradation in TiO2-based ceramic capacitors

H2O-induced degradation in TiO2-based ceramic capacitors (rutile-based ceramic capacitor) was studied by means of the electrolysis of water. In the test, the ceramic capacitors were placed in a 0. 01 M NaOH solution and a small dc voltage was applied to evolve hydrogen onto their silver electrodes. The samples treated by electrolysis of water showed obvious degradation as their permittivity decreased and their dielectric loss increased significantly. I-V measurements indicated that the resistance decreased greatly in the degraded samples. The decrease in resistance could be ascribed to the generation of charge carriers due to the reduction reaction of atomic hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. These results suggested that the reduction reaction of atomic hydrogen at ambient temperature was a cause of the degradation for the rutile ceramic capacitors.Department of Applied Physic