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Structure evolution and piezoelectric properties of K0.40Na0.60Nb0.95Sb0.05O3–Bi0.5K0.5HfO3–SrZrO3 ternary lead-free ceramics with R–O–T phase boundary

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Abstract

A conventional ceramic preparation method was used to fabricate the newly designed ternary (K,Na)NbO3-based lead-free ceramics, which have the general formula of (0.97-x)K0.40Na0.60Nb0.95Sb0.05O3–0.03Bi0.5K0.5HfO3–xSrZrO3. An X-ray diffraction analysis, together with dielectric-temperature measurements, was performed for determining their phase structures. The crystal structure was found to transition from a rhombohedral-orthogonal phase coexistence to a three-phase coexistence of rhombohedral-orthogonal-tetragonal phases with the increase in SrZrO3 concentration, and then to a rhombohedral-tetragonal phase coexistence, and finally to a single rhombohedral phase. Near the three-phase coexistence zone, the ceramics exhibit an obviously enhanced electrical activity, with an electromechanical coupling coefficient kp = 0.364 and a piezoelectric constant d33 = 280 pC/N. Through a microstructure analysis, a slightly excessive amount of SrZrO3 was found to result in an inhibition for the grain growth of the studied ceramics. These results show that incorporating SrZrO3 into ternary (K,Na)NbO3-based ceramics is still an effective means of constructing phase boundaries and improving the electromechanical properties.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. XDJK2020B003) and Research Project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (No. yjg183037). The authors would like to thank Dr. Guannan Li (School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, China) for her assistance in the Rietveld refinements of XRD data.

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  1. School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Yunyi Liu, Yongqi Pan, Xudong Bai, Jinchuan Wang, Caiwang He, Zunping Xu & Yi Chen

  2. National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Intelligent Transmission and Control Technology (Chongqing), Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Yi Chen

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  1. Yunyi Liu
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Liu, Y., Pan, Y., Bai, X. et al. Structure evolution and piezoelectric properties of K0.40Na0.60Nb0.95Sb0.05O3–Bi0.5K0.5HfO3–SrZrO3 ternary lead-free ceramics with R–O–T phase boundary. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 9032–9043 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-05573-7

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