Piezoelectric enhancement of 0.6Pb(Zr,Ti)O3–0.4Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3 ceramics with artificial MPB engineering

Piezoelectric materials are widely used in the direction of sensors. PZT-based ceramics are very suitable for precision sensors. However, due to the low Curie temperature, the application temperature range of the material is relatively narrow. Here we show a high-performance material 0.6PZT–0.4PNN. In this case, a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region was artificially designed in the 0.6Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3–0.4Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3 (x = 0.35–0.41) ceramics to develop high-performance piezoelectric compositions which could cofire with low-cost Ag/Pd inner electrode by 0.2wt% Li2CO3 addition. The ceramic composition at x = 0.39 near MPB possess exceptional properties with high piezoelectric coefficient d33 ∼ 611 pC/N, planar electromechanical coupling coefficient kp ∼ 53.5%, low mechanical quality factor Qm ∼ 64.5 piezoelectric strain of 0.17%, and suitable Curie temperature Tc ∼ 191 °C, respectively. The fact that d33 was detected close to Tc, and no noticeable change below 6.6% in cycling stability was observed at 20 kV/cm means a robust temperature-independence and fatigue reliability of the piezoelectric ceramics. Thus, this research provides a novel high-piezoelectricity configuration with elemental regulation, comparable to the commercial PZTs.