“Soft” to “hard” transition and balanced performance in Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Mn1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbZrO3-PbTiO3:Sm

Piezoelectric materials have wide commercial applications involving our everyday lives. The common categorized “soft” and “hard” piezoelectric materials have distinct even contradictory performance parameters typically exemplified by piezoelectric coefficient d 33 and mechanical quality factor Q m . However, for some special devices operated in resonant mode, simultaneously high or at least balanced performance parameters are needed. Here, we show the transition from “soft” to “hard” performance in 2 mol% Sm doped (0.36- x )Pb(Ni 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 - x Pb(Mn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -0.28PbZrO 3 -0.36PbTiO 3 quaternary solid solution piezoceramics, for which the d 33 and planar electromechanical coupling factor k p decrease, while Q m and Curie temperature T c increase monotonously with increasing x value. As the results, balanced performance with moderate d 33  = 446 pC/N, k p  = 0.49, Q m  = 425, and T c  = 170 °C are achieved around x  = 0.03. This work not only shows the feasibility for combining “soft” and “hard” performance by forming appropriate solid solutions, but also provides a suitable material basis for further simultaneously optimizing piezoelectric parameters.