Elevating electrical properties of (K, Na)NbO3 ceramics via cold sintering process and post-annealing

Dense (K, Na)NbO3 ceramics are successfully fabricated via the cold sintering process at 350 degrees C under a uniaxial pressure of 400 MPa for 4 h. Equimolar KOH and NaOH solutions were utilized as a transient alkaline flux. The microstructure and dielectric properties were studied in detail. Scanning electron microscope and the relative densities reveal dense structures of the ceramics. After post-annealing at 800 degrees C for 1 h, the ceramics show good electrical performance. The relative dielectric permittivity is 829 (at 10 kHz) at room temperature, and the piezoelectric constant (d(33)) reaches up to 148 pC/N. The cold sintering technique with equimolar KOH and NaOH solutions as a transient alkaline flux endow KNN ceramics with excellent dielectric and piezoelectric properties, showing a potential way to fabricating other KNN-based ceramics at low temperature.

Automated summary

Dense (K, Na)NbO3 ceramics were successfully fabricated using the cold sintering process with equimolar KOH and NaOH solutions as a transient alkaline flux, showing excellent dielectric and piezoelectric properties at low temperature.