Enhanced electromechanical response and piezoelectric properties in lead-free erbium-modified Ba(Zr,Ti)O-3 piezoceramics

摘要

It is difficult to develop BaTiO3-based ceramics with enhanced electrical properties and temperature stability simultaneously. In this regard, Er-modified Ba(Zr(0.0)5Ti(0.95))O-3 (BZT-Er) ceramics were designed and synthesized to solve the above problem. The effect of Er2O3 on the microstructure, phase transition, piezoelectric, electromechanical performance and thermal stability of BZT piezoceramics were systemically explored. It was shown that the addition of Er2O3 hardly influences the phase structure of BZT ceramics, which was confirmed by the XRD, Raman and dielectric measurements. The optimized piezoelectric and electromechanical performance is achieved for the BZT-0.04Er ceramics with d(33) of 253pC/N and S-max/E-max of 368 pm/V, respectively, along with no deterioration of the thermal stability. Consequently, the improvement in piezoelectric, electromechanical and thermal stability was realized simultaneously in BZT-Er ceramics. These observations indicate that the Er modified BZT ceramics can be deemed as one of the hopeful candidates for actual applications, showing remarkable figure of merit.