Achieving large strain and low hysteresis in BiFeO3-BaTiO3-based piezoelectric ceramics

The high strain hysteresis has impeded lead-free piezoelectric ceramics to replace lead zirconate titanate ceramics applied in actuators. In this study, we report a significant advancement with the synthesis of a novel BiFeO3-BaTiO3-(Ba0.6Sr0.4)TiO3 (BF-BT-BST) system. The optimal composition has demonstrated a remarkable strain of 0.42% coupled with a notably low hysteresis of 21%. It is found that the incorporation of BST into BF-BT facilitates the transition from the rhombohedral phase to the pseudo-cubic phase, which in turn significantly enhances the relaxor ferroelectric characteristics of the ceramic. Through adjusting the composition proportion of BST, a unique ferroelectric domain structure is established for the BF-BT-0.04BST ceramic, where polar nanoregions (PNRs) are surrounded by ferroelectric macrodomains. The domain structure enables the ceramic to have the ability to respond the external electric field quickly compared to the PNRs for typical relaxor composition, thereby leading to large strain and low hysteresis simultaneously. Hence, it is inferred that the ferroelectric macrodomains simplify the response process of the PNRs under electric field. This study provides an efficient strategy to break through the bottleneck of large strain hysteresis for BF-BT ceramic, and gives a deep comprehension for the improvement of the strain characteristics.