Sm doped PYN-PZ-PT piezoelectric ceramics with large piezoelectricity and excellent temperature stability

Obtaining a large piezoelectric coefficient and high temperature stability simultaneously in piezoelectric ceramics is a formidable challenge. By strategically designing a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) composition with localized structural heterogeneity, 0.1 Pb(Yb 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 -0.435PbZrO 3 -0.465PbTiO 3 -1mol% Sm ceramic demonstrates outstanding electromechanical performance with d 33  = 585 pC/N, k p  = 0.66, T C  = 365 °C, and outstanding temperature stability, the piezoelectric coefficient d 33 varies less than 10 % in the temperature range of 25–260 °C, making it a promising candidate for applications in high-temperature transducers and sensors. Our investigations revealed that the enhanced piezoelectricity originates from Sm 3+ induced intensification of relaxor behavior and structural refinement of hierarchical nanodomains, while the high temperature stability is attributed to the larger volume fraction of ferroelectric domains of the T-phase, which provide “pinning” of the nanodomains through the hierarchical domain structure.