High pyroelectricity in lead-free 0.5Ba(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O₃–0.5(Ba_0.7Ca_0.3)TiO₃ ceramics

Abstract

Abstract We report high pyroelectricity in lead-free 0.5Ba(Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 )O 3 –0.5(Ba 0.7 Ca 0.3 )TiO 3 (BZT–50BCT) ceramics which were previously reported to exhibit high piezoelectricity. The pyroelectric coefficient measured by the Byer–Roundy method upon heating for dc-poled samples shows a high value of 5.84 × 10 −4 C m −2 K −1 at 300 K, comparable to those of PZT-based ceramics and significantly higher than many other lead-free pyroelectric materials. The pyroelectric coefficient calculated from the remanent polarization versus temperature relationship obtained during a cooling process is 17.17 × 10 −4 C m −2 K −1 at 300 K, which is considerably larger than the value obtained by the Byer–Roundy method. This difference is attributed to the thermal hysteresis of the rhombohedral–tetragonal phase transition between the heating and cooling processes.