Piezoelectric enhancement of 0.6Pb(Zr,Ti)O3–0.4Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3 ceramics with artificial MPB engineering

Piezoelectric materials are widely used in the direction of sensors. PZT-based ceramics are very suitable for precision sensors. However, due to the low Curie temperature, the application temperature range of the material is relatively narrow. Here we show a high-performance material 0.6PZT–0.4PNN. In this case, a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region was artificially designed in the 0.6Pb(Zr x Ti 1 −x )O 3 –0.4Pb(Ni 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 ( x  = 0.35–0.41) ceramics to develop high-performance piezoelectric compositions which could cofire with low-cost Ag/Pd inner electrode by 0.2wt% Li 2 CO 3 addition. The ceramic composition at x  = 0.39 near MPB possess exceptional properties with high piezoelectric coefficient d 33  ∼ 611 pC/N, planar electromechanical coupling coefficient k p  ∼ 53.5%, low mechanical quality factor Q m  ∼ 64.5 piezoelectric strain of 0.17%, and suitable Curie temperature T c  ∼ 191 °C, respectively. The fact that d 33 was detected close to T c , and no noticeable change below 6.6% in cycling stability was observed at 20 kV/cm means a robust temperature-independence and fatigue reliability of the piezoelectric ceramics. Thus, this research provides a novel high-piezoelectricity configuration with elemental regulation, comparable to the commercial PZTs.