High antiferroelectric stability and large electric field-induced strain in MnO2-doped Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.63Sn0.26Ti0.11)O3 ceramics

Crystal structure and electrical properties of MnO2-doped Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.63Sn0.26Ti0.11)O-3 antiferroelectric ceramic were studied in detail in this article. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that all specimens took on single tetragonal antiferroelectric structure, and antiferroelectric phase stability enhanced with the increase of MnO2 addition, which was because that the substitution of Mn2+ or Mn3+ with large ion radius for B-site Ti4+ decreased the tolerance factor of the ceramic. In addition, it was observed that different from Mn doping reducing Tm of ferroelectric ceramics, Tm of antiferroelectric ceramics increased with the addition of MnO2, which is for the reason that MnO2 addition enlarged the zone of antiferroelectric phase. Furthermore, by increasing MnO2 content, the strain first increased and then decreased. Meanwhile, the value improved obviously as the measuring frequency decreased. The largest electric field-induced strain of 0.65% was obtained in the specimen with 0.2 mol% MnO2 doping at the frequency of 1 Hz, which lay a foundation for preparing actuator with high strain energy density.