LiTaO3 doping-induced modifications in structure and electromechanical properties of lead-free BNT-6BT ceramics
摘要
0.94(Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3) − 0.06(BaTiO3), abbreviated as BNT − 6BT, is a ceramic of significant importance due to its promising ferroelectric properties. In this study, LiTaO3 (LT) was doped in BNT − 6BT according to, (0.94-x)(Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3) − 0.06(BaTiO3) − (x)(LiTaO3) by changing ‘x’ from 0.00 to 0.05. Samples of each composition were systematically prepared and studied for their structural and electrical properties, including dielectric, ferroelectric, and electric field (E-field) induced strain. Structural characterization by the room temperature X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement confirmed the existence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases. Combining the temperature-dependent dielectric measurements revealed that the ferroelectric to relaxor crossover temperature (TF-R) decreased towards ambient temperature (~ 25° C) with increasing LT doping. For x ˃ 0.02, TF-R was decreased below ambient temperature and became not observable. x = 0.03 was found to be a critical concentration for which the dielectric, ferroelectric, and strain properties were found promising. A large E-field-induced strain of 0.49% at 62 kV/cm and a corresponding normalized strain (d33*) of 787 pm/V were achieved, which are high and comparable to many lead-based ceramics at room temperature. Based on the results obtained, it seems that the ceramic BNT-6BT ceramic doped with 3 at. % of LiTaO3 (BNT-6BT-3LT) is a good contender for piezoelectric applications. Further, the study indicated that the mixing of LT in the BNT − 6BT attributed to the transformation of long-range ferroelectric orders to polar nano-regions relaxor; therefore, it can enhance the physical properties of BNT − 6BT ceramic.