Low temperature sintering of Li2CO3 added Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)-Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics with high piezoelectric properties

Multilayer structure is an effective approach for reducing driving voltages or increasing output electric signal for piezoelectric devices. However, it is a challenge to achieve high piezoelectric coefficient at low sintering temperature. In this work, we fabricated Li2CO3 (LC) doped Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)-Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PNN-PZT) ceramics via solid state reaction method. Piezoelectric coefficient at low quasi-static signal d(33) and effective piezoelectric coefficient under high electric field d(33)* are 692 pC/N, 1114 pm/V for PNN-PZT+0.2 wt% LC sintered at 950 degrees C, which is comparable to high temperature sintered commercial Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) based ceramics. Detailed piezoelectric, ferroelectric, dielectric properties, temperature stability and material structure were investigated. The planar electromechanical coupling factor K-p, relative dielectric constant epsilon(r) and dielectric loss tan delta at 1 kHz, Curie temperature T-c, coercive electric field E-c are measured to be 0.557, 4280, 0.025, 113 degrees C, 4.34 kV/cm. It shows great potential for applications in multilayer structured cofired piezoelectric actuators and transducers. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this work, LC-doped PNN-PZT ceramics were fabricated using a solid state reaction method, achieving high piezoelectric coefficients at low sintering temperatures comparable to commercially sintered PZT ceramics. The materials show great potential for applications in multilayer structured cofired piezoelectric actuators and transducers.