A Pb(Zr,Ti)O3–Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–Bi(Mn2/3Sb1/3)O3 quaternary solid solution ceramic with low sintering temperature, high piezoelectric coefficient and large mechanical quality factor

A quaternary high-power piezoelectric ceramic of 0.9Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3–0.06Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.04Bi(Mn2/3Sb1/3)O3 + y mol% Fe2O3 (x = 0.45–0.53) was reported to exhibit excellent overall properties of ε33T/ε0=1615\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${{\varepsilon_{33}^{T} } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\varepsilon_{33}^{T} } {\varepsilon_{0} }}} \right. \kern-0pt} {\varepsilon_{0} }} = 1615$$\end{document}, d33 = 305 pC/N, kp = 0.56, Qm = 1678, and Tc = 302 °C at x = 0.48 and y = 0.7 as sintered at 1040 °C. The relevant mechanism was ascribed to the combined effect of the formation of a traditional morphotropic phase boundary, the low-temperature sintering and amphoteric role of Bi(Mn2/3Sb1/3)O3 and the modification of Fe2O3 doping. The results demonstrate that Bi-based complex perovskite Bi(Mn2/3Sb1/3)O3 can simultaneously provide soft and hard characteristics similar to traditional Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3 and Pb(Mn1/3Nb2/3)O3. The addition of a small amount of Fe3O3 was found to have an obvious effect on the densification behavior and grain growth, and to simultaneously promote the piezoelectric properties and quality factor Qm as y ˂ 0.9. Compared with traditional piezoelectric ceramics, low-sintering temperature and excellent piezoelectric properties indicate that the studied composition in current work could have potentials for low-cost high-power device applications.