Investigation on the fabrication and properties of Ce-doped PMN-PT translucent piezoelectric ceramics

Relaxor ferroelectric ceramics (1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-xPbTiO(3) (PMN-PT) at the morphotropic phase boundary exhibit high piezoelectric and electromechanical performances. In this study, translucent 0.67PMN-0.33PT piezoelectric ceramics with various Ce doping concentrations (0, 1, 2, 2.5, and 3 mol%) were fabricated using a two-step synthesis method. All ceramics exhibited a high relative density (> 97%). The valence of Ce ions in PMN-PT ceramics and their influence on the piezoelectric, ferroelectric, dielectric, strain behavior, and luminescence properties of PMN-PT ceramics were investigated. A maximum d(33) of 800 pC/N was obtained when the doping amount of Ce was 2 mol%. The maximum dielectric constant and corresponding temperature T-m decreased with the increase of Ce doping concentration, and all the dielectric loss factors were lower than 0.15. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that Ce3+ and Ce4+ coexist in PMN-PT ceramics, and Ce3+ is dominant with a low Ce doping content, which enhances the luminous intensity of Pb2+ ions.

Automated summary

Translucent 0.67PMN-0.33PT piezoelectric ceramics with various Ce doping concentrations were fabricated, and the influence of Ce on the properties of the ceramics was investigated. The ceramics exhibited high performance with a maximum d(33) of 800 pC/N when the Ce doping amount was 2 mol%.