Simultaneously achieving giant piezoelectricity and record coercive field enhancement in relaxor-based ferroelectric crystals
Liya Yang, Houbing Huang, Zengzhe Xi, Limei Zheng, Shiqi Xu, Gang Tian, Yuzhi Zhai, Feifei Guo, Lingping Kong, Yonggang Wang, Weiming Lü, Long Yuan, Minglei Zhao, Haiwu Zheng, Gang Liu
Abstract
Abstract A large coercive field ( E C ) and ultrahigh piezoelectricity are essential for ferroelectrics used in high-drive electromechanical applications. The discovery of relaxor-PbTiO 3 crystals is a recent breakthrough; they currently afford the highest piezoelectricity, but usually with a low E C . Such performance deterioration occurs because high piezoelectricity is interlinked with an easy polarization rotation, subsequently favoring a dipole switch under small fields. Therefore, the search for ferroelectrics with both a large E C and ultrahigh piezoelectricity has become an imminent challenge. Herein, ternary Pb(Sc 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 –Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –PbTiO 3 crystals are reported, wherein the dispersed local heterogeneity comprises abundant tetragonal phases, affording a E C of 8.2 kV/cm (greater than that of Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –PbTiO 3 by a factor of three) and ultrahigh piezoelectricity ( d 33 = 2630 pC/N; d 15 = 490 pC/N). The observed E C enhancement is the largest reported for ultrahigh-piezoelectric materials, providing a simple, practical, and universal route for improving functionalities in ferroelectrics with an atomic-level understanding.