Effects of B-site complex cations (Fe0.5Nb0.5)4+ doping on the structure and piezoelectric properties of 0.68BiFeO3-0.32BaTiO3 ceramics
摘要
BiFeO3-BaTiO3 (BF-BT) ceramics have emerged as a prominent research focus in the lead-free materials field in recent years due to their high Curie temperature and excellent ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties. In this work, 0.68BiFeO3-0.32BaTi1-x(Fe0.5Nb0.5)xO3 + 0.1 wt.% MnO2 ceramics (abbreviated as 0.68BF-0.32BT(FN)x-Mn, x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) were prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. The effects of Ti-site (Fe0.5Nb0.5)4+ substitution on the crystal structure, microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties of 0.68BF-0.32BT ceramics were systematically investigated. It is confirmed from the XRD results that all the compositions consist of diphasic tetragonal (T) and rhombohedral (R) phases. Increase of B-site (Fe0.5Nb0.5)4+ substitution induces an expansion of unit cell volume, reduces the ferroelectric–paraelectric phase transition temperature (Tm) monotonically from 471 °C at x = 0 to 445 °C at x = 0.04. The average grain size and piezoelectric properties increase by the substitution 2.0 mol% (Fe0.5Nb0.5)4+ complex cations for Ti4+ in 0.68BF-0.32BT ceramics. Notably, the piezoelectric properties of this ceramic are improved through the grain size effect. Specifically, the 0.68BF-0.32BT(FN)0.02-Mn ceramics display optimal comprehensive electrical performance with Tm = 461 °C, Pmax = 26.4 µC/cm2, Pr = 18.1 µC/cm2, EC = 23.0 kV/cm, d33 = 151 pC/N, kp = 0.298, Qm = 50.32, demonstrating the potential viability of BF-BT ceramics for high-temperature lead-free piezoelectric applications.