Enhanced piezoelectric properties and depolarization temperature in textured (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-based ceramics via homoepitaxial templated grain growth

Enhanced piezoelectric response was usually achieved in (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3 (BNT)-based ceramics with sacrifice of depolarization temperature Td, seriously limiting their usage range in electromechanical applications. In this work, we propose to explore piezoelectric anisotropy and domain engineering in composition & microstructure-controlled textured ceramics to resolve this issue. [001]c-textured 0.94(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 (0.94BNT-0.06BT) ceramics with Lotgering factor F 001-91% were fabri-cated through homoepitaxial templated grain growth (TGG) via using 0.94BNT-0.06BT microplatelet tem-plates. The textured samples exhibited more ordered domains with facilitated domain switching behavior, being consistent with saturated high polarization achieved at lower electric fields. Increasing F 001 to above 60% enables rapid enhancement of piezoelectric response. Notably, compared to non-textured counter-part, the maximally textured ceramics exhibited-236% enhanced piezoelectric coefficient ( d 33-302 pC/N) and-280% enhanced piezoelectric voltage coefficient ( g 33-49.8 x 10-3 Vm/N), together with slightly in-creased depolarization temperature (Td-106 degrees C). Moreover, those values are approaching or even higher than the single-crystal values. This work not only provides important guidelines for design and synthesis of novel textured ceramics with improved comprehensive electrical properties, but also can expand application fields of BNT-based ceramics.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

In this study, the piezoelectric response of (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3 (BNT)-based ceramics was enhanced by exploring piezoelectric anisotropy and domain engineering in composition and microstructure-controlled textured ceramics. The textured ceramics exhibited more ordered domains and facilitated domain switching behavior, resulting in significantly enhanced piezoelectric properties compared to non-textured counterparts.