Investigation of dielectric and piezoelectric properties in aliovalent Eu3+-modified Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ceramics

Rare earth (Eu3+)-modified Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics were fabricated by high-temperature solid-state sintering, the phase structure, dielectric and piezoelectric properties were investigated. Eu3+ addition was found to significantly improve dielectric and piezoelectric properties of PMN-PT, where the optimized properties were achieved for the composition of 2.5 mol%Eu: 0.72PMN-0.28PT, with the piezoelectric d(33) = 1420 pC/N, dielectric epsilon(r) = 12 200 and electromechanical k(33) = 0.78, respectively. All these results indicate that the Eu3+-doped PMN-PT ceramics are promising candidates for high-performance room-temperature piezoelectric devices.