Giant electro-strain and enhanced energy storage performance of (Y0.5Ta0.5)(4+) co-doped 0.94(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-0.06BaTiO(3) lead-free ceramics

0.94(Bi0.5Na0.5)(Y0.5Ta0.5)(x)Ti1-xO3-0.06BaTiO(3) lead-free piezoelectric ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction method to study their excellent electro-strain properties and energy storage characteristics systematically. All ceramics exhibited a dense surface morphology. The introduction of (Y0.5Ta0.5)(4+) complex ions destroyed the long-range ferroelectric order, which reduced the TF-R to the operating temperature, resulting in an easier field-induced transition between relaxor and ferroelectric phase. Therefore, for x = 0.01 component attained unipolar strain of 0.37% under 52 kV/cm, and the corresponding normalized strain d(33)* was 708 pm/V. Besides, the destruction of the ferroelectric phase also induced a pinched hysteresis loop and the maximum storage density of 1.215 J/cm(3) with the efficiency of 68.7% obtained at 98 kV/cm for BNYT30 ceramics. These all demonstrated that the doping of complex ions (Y0.5Ta0.5)(4+) made the BNT-BT an outstanding candidate for actuators and energy storage devices.