Improved dielectric and piezoelectric properties of Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)-PbTiO3 ternary ferroelectric ceramics

Sm-doped Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )-PbTiO 3 (PMN-PT) binary ferroelectric ceramics has received extensive attention due to the excellent dielectric and piezoelectric properties . However, its Curie temperature ( T c ) is greatly reduced by Sm doping and T c is only 89 °C at the optimum piezoelectric coefficient. In this work, Sm-doped Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –Pb(Zn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )-PbTiO 3 (Sm: PMN-PZN-PT) ternary ferroelectric ceramics near MPB were successfully manufactured and the crystal structure, microstructure and electric properties were investigated with respect to Sm doping content. A high piezoelectric coefficient of 870 pC/N and a high T c of 146 °C were achieved simultaneously in PMN-PZN-PT ternary ceramics with 1% Sm doping content. In addition, the room temperature dielectric constant was greatly improved by Sm doping and the P r , P s and E c values gradually decrease with the increase of Sm content. These results indicate that Sm-doped PMN-PZN-PT ceramics may be an attractive material for high performance piezoelectric device applications.