Synthesis and characterization of Pb(Yb_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃-based high-Curie temperature piezoelectric ceramics

¹ School of Information Science and Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, Jiangsu 213164, P.R. China
² School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, P.R. China
³ Key Laboratory of Inorganic Function Material and Device, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, P.R. China

^a e-mail: fangbj@sohu.com
^b e-mail: dingjn@cczu.edu.cn

Received: 1 February 2014
Revised: 20 April 2014
Accepted: 2 May 2014
Published online: 10 June 2014

Abstract

xPb(Yb_1/2Nb_1/2)O3-(1 − x)Pb(Zr_0.36Ti_0.64)O₃ (xPYN-(1 − x)PZT) piezoelectric ceramics were prepared by the conventional ceramic processing via a B-site oxide mixing route. The synthesized xPYN-(1 − x)PZT ceramics exhibit majority of perovskite structure with slight content of impurity, which exhibit typical tetragonal structure with slight orthorhombic distortion depending on compositions. All the xPYN-(1 − x)PZT ceramics exhibit high Curie temperature (T_C/T_m), higher than 380 °C, and their dielectric behavior above T_C/T_m can be fitted well by the Curie-Weiss law. The xPYN-(1 − x)PZT ceramics exhibit large resistivity, and excellent ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties, which provide promising for the high-power and high-temperature piezoelectric applications. However, electric energy density of the xPYN-(1 − x)PZT ceramics is small due to their nearly rectangular shape of polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop and early electric displacement saturation, which is not suitable for high energy and power storage applications.