Piezoelectric 0–3 Composites with Conductive Nanoparticles

Various material combinations are explored to improve the performance of lead-free piezoelectric composites. UV light curable piezoelectric composites are filled with 30 vol.% lead-free piezoceramics and up to 0.4 wt.% conductive nanoparticles, forming in total 36 different material compositions, that are characterized in detail. Prepared high-viscosity suspensions are tape-cast in mold as thin layers and are solidified exposing them to UV light. Even low conductive nanoparticle concentrations increase relative permittivities, while strongly reducing curing depth and increasing dielectric losses. A non-homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles is observed at higher concentrations. Six selected material compositions are investigated in detail by measuring their mechanical, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties. Results show that KNN composite performance as piezoelectric sensors is almost six times higher than BTO composite performance.