Composition design and electrical properties in BiFeO3–BaTiO3–Bi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3 lead-free ceramics

Here we fabricated the (1−y)[(1−x)BiFeO3–xBaTiO3]–yBi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3 ceramics by the conventional solid-state method, and then a large piezoelectric constant (d 33) of ~195 pC/N together with a high Curie temperature (T C = 505 °C) could be attained in the ceramics by building the rhombohedral–cubic (R–C) phase boundary. The R–C phase coexistence can be shown in the ceramics with 0.25 ≤ x ≤ 0.35 and 0.01 ≤ y ≤ 0.05. In particular, both a high remnant polarization (P r = 18.5 μC/m2) and a relatively high strain of ~0.19% were also observed in the phase coexistence region. In addition, the thermal stability together with the effects of polarization temperature and cooling-down method was also explored.