Achieving combinatory “soft” and “hard” piezoelectric properties in textured ceramics via exploring single‐crystal‐like electrostriction

Abstract

Abstract Design of a projecting‐receiving dual‐purpose transducer is challenging due to the difficulty of synthesizing piezoelectric materials with combinatory “soft” properties (high piezoelectric coefficient d ) and “hard” properties (low dielectric loss and high mechanical quality factor Q m ). In this study, we provide a different perspective to address this challenge via exploiting single‐crystal‐like electrostriction coefficient Q 33 through the fabrication of grain oriented or textured “hard” piezoelectric ceramics. Mn‐doped 0.27Pb(In 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 –0.41Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –0.32PbTiO 3 (Mn:PIN–PMN–PT) piezoelectric ceramics with a high [0 0 1] c texture fraction of 99% were synthesized, which exhibit three times greater piezoelectric properties ( d 33 ∼ 828 pC/N) than random counterparts ( d 33 ∼ 251 pC/N), while maintaining low loss (tan δ ∼ 0.5%, Q m = 443). According to the formula , the large improvement of d 33 in textured ceramics is mainly due to a doubling increase in dielectric constant ε 33 and Q 33 (∼0.057 m 4 /C 2 ). Notably, the Q 33 exhibits remarkable similarity to that of PMN–PT single crystals, further contributing to the enhanced piezoelectric performance of textured ceramics. Phase field model of ferroelectrics was performed to understand the texturing on Q 33 and elucidate the underlying mechanism at the domain level. The textured ceramics exhibit excellent combinatory “soft” and “hard” properties, which are the promising materials for developing projecting‐receiving dual‐purpose transducers with high efficiency and high sensitivity.