Enhanced dielectric, ferroelectric, and electrostrictive properties of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.9Ti0.1O3 ceramics by ZnO modification

Abstract

The effects of ZnO modification on the dielectric, ferroelectric, and electrostrictive properties of 0.9Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.1PbTiO3 (PMNT) ceramics are systematically studied in this work. The PMNT/xZnO (with x = 0, 0.4, 2.0, 4.0, and 11.0 mol. %) ceramics of complex perovskite structure were prepared by solid state reaction and sintering process. It is found that the maximum value of the dielectric constant decreases with increasing ZnO amount up to x = 4.0 mol. %, and then significantly increases with x = 11.0 mol. %. The temperature of maximum dielectric constant tends to increase, while the diffuseness of the dielectric peak is reduced, with increasing ZnO content. The remanent polarization and the coercive field increase with increasing ZnO concentration. The induced strain and the electrostrictive coefficient reach the maximum values of 0.10% (at E = 10 kV/cm) and 12.94 × 10−16 m2/V2, respectively, with x = 2.0 mol. % ZnO. The ceramic doped with a high ZnO content (11.0 mol. %) exhibits a macroscopically polar phase with a well-developed ferroelectric hysteresis loop and butterfly-shaped bipolar piezoelectric response. This enhanced long-range polarization and the resulting properties are attributed to the effects of the partial substitution of Zn2+ for Mg2+, which favors a higher degree of polar order and a lower degree of relaxor behavior.

Structural and electrical properties of ZnO‐modified (1−x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3−xPbTiO3 ceramics with wide MPB regions

“…The SEM micrographs show that there were almost no cracks or voids in the samples, indicating that the ceramics were well sintered. The density of these ceramics varied from 7.5 to 8.0 g/cm 3 , and the relative density, based on the theoretical density estimated from XRD, is estimated to be higher than 96%; this result is consistent with those of previous reports and further indicates that the ceramics were well sintered. The average grain size increased continuously with increasing PT content, as depicted in Figure H.…”

“…It is deduced that the substitution of Zn for Mg cations in PMN‐ x PT can lead to enhanced electrical properties due to the following two factors. On the one hand, ferroelectric‐active Zn cations are beneficial to enhanced ferroelectricity . On the other hand, the lattice distortion induced by Zn substitution forms an Mc phase in PMN‐ x PT, as confirmed by the Rietveld analysis of the XRD results.…”

First-principles studies of the local structure and relaxor behavior of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)OTan1, Takenaka2, Xu3 et al. 2018Phys. Rev. B19390View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…In addition to binary compounds such as PMN-PT and PZN-PT, current research interest has been directed to doped PMN-PT materials such as Mn-, Fe-, Zn-and W-doped relaxor solid solutions [23][24][25][26], because such doped systems may exhibit enhanced properties relative to the undoped solid solutions. Ternary compounds such as Pb(In 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 −Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 −PbTiO 3 (PIN-PMN-PT) [27,28] and Pb(Zn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 −Pb(Mn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 −PbTiO 3 (PZN-PMN-PT) [29,30] have also attracted intense interest.…”

Novel ferroelectric single crystals of Bi(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O3-PbZrO3-PbTiO3 ternary solid solution

“…Thus, the presence of Zn 2þ in the BZT-PZ-PT ternary solid solution could enhance the degree of ferroelectric order of the material, as recently shown in the Zn-doped PMN-PT ceramics. 14 The partial substitution of Zn 2þ and Ti 4þ for Zr 4þ increases the concentration ferroelectrically active cations on the B-site, leading to a strong coupling between the A-site and B-site off-center distortion, which in turn could also contribute to a high T C value. 15 Second, in the ternary system, both A-site cations (Bi 3þ and Pb 2þ ) possess the stereochemically active 6s 2 "lone-pair" electrons, which inherently enhance its spontaneous polarization and stabilize the ferroelectric order, leading to a higher T C .…”