Domain structure and dielectric diffusion-relaxation characteristics of ternary Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 ceramics

Relaxor-based ternary Pb( In 1 / 2 ${\text{In}}_{1/2}$ Nb 1 / 2 ${\text{Nb}}_{1/2}$ )O 3 –Pb( Mg 1 / 3 ${\text{Mg}}_{1/3}$ Nb 2 / 3 ${\text{Nb}}_{2/3}$ )O 3 –PbTiO 3 (PIN–PMN–PT) single crystals and ceramics are promising candidates for high-performance electromechanical conversion devices. It is known that the domain structure and dielectric diffusion–relaxation characteristics are crucial to the excellent performances of relaxor ferroelectrics. In this work, we prepared the PIN–PMN–PT ceramics with various PIN/PMN proportions and systematically investigated their domain structure and dielectric diffusion–relaxation properties. The effect of PIN/PMN proportion on the domain size and dielectric diffusion–relaxation characteristics was also studied. The investigations showed that PIN–PMN–PT ceramics presented multi-type domain patterns comprising irregular island domains and regular lamellar domains. Moreover, the dependent relations of PIN/PMN proportions on the dielectric diffusion and domain size indicated that the PIN composition has a stronger lattice distortion than PMN composition; increasing the PIN proportion can enhance the dielectric diffusion and decrease the domain size. Our results could deepen the understanding of structure–property relationships of multicomponent relaxor ferroelectrics and guide the design and exploration of new high-performance ferroelectric materials.