Enhanced dielectric and piezoelectric properties of manganese-doped Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals by alternating current poling

Alternating current poling (ACP) was performed on Gen III relaxor-PT Mn-doped Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O-3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-PbTiO3 (Mn: PIN-PMN-PT) single crystals with the poling direction of [001]. Experimental results proved that ACP could bring property enhancement to both k(31) and k(33) mode crystals. Compared to those from traditional direct current poling (DCP), ACP with the optimized conditions (20 kV/cm, 0.1 H4 and 20 cydes) enhanced the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of k m -mode mode crystals by more than 30%, where the enhanced free dielectric constant and piezoelectric coefficient d(33 )reached 5300 and 1750 pC/N, respectively. Furthermore, replacing DCP with ACP could increase the advantages of Gen HI relaxor-PT. The coupling factors k(31) and k(33) were enhanced to 0.472 and 0.915, the mechanical quality factor Q(m), was enhanced by 17%, and the depoling temperature was raised by 17 degrees C to 123 degrees C. In the following mechanism study, in situ x-ray diffraction (XRD) combined with the temperature-dependent dielectric constant measurement proved the introduction of the monoclinic phases after ACP, while piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) observation showed 2R-like 2M domain morphologies in ACP single crystals. Both these intrinsic and extrinsic factors are believed to be the keys to the mechanisms of property enhancement behind ACP. This study proved that ACP is an effective property enhancement method suitable for Gen III relaxor-PT single crystals and will promote its applications in high-temperature and high-power devices. Published under license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

The study demonstrated that alternating current poling (ACP) is an effective method for enhancing the properties of Gen III relaxor-PT single crystals, significantly improving dielectric and piezoelectric properties, and increasing coupling factors and mechanical quality factor. The introduction of monoclinic phases and unique domain morphologies were identified as key factors in the property enhancement mechanism behind ACP, indicating its potential for high-temperature and high-power device applications.