title: Semiconductor/relaxor 0-3 type composites without thermal depolarization in Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based lead-free piezoceramics.
abstract: Commercial lead-based piezoelectric materials raised worldwide environmental concerns in the past decade. Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based solid solution is among the most promising lead-free piezoelectric candidates; however, depolarization of these solid solutions is a longstanding obstacle for their practical applications. Here we use a strategy to defer the thermal depolarization, even render depolarization-free Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based 0-3-type composites. This is achieved by introducing semiconducting ZnO particles into the relaxor ferroelectric 0.94Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-0.06BaTiO₃ matrix. The depolarization temperature increases with increasing ZnO concentration until depolarization disappears at 30 mol% ZnO. The semiconducting nature of ZnO provides charges to partially compensate the ferroelectric depolarization field. These results not only pave the way for applications of Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-based piezoceramics, but also have great impact on the understanding of the mechanism of depolarization so as to provide a new design to optimize the performance of lead-free piezoelectrics.
authors: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors: Ji
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors: Zhao
authors: Z
authors: Pan
authors: Condensed Matter Science and Technology Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors: Fei-Fei
authors: FF
authors: Guo
authors: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors: Wen-Chao
authors: WC
authors: Liu
authors: School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
authors: Huanpo
authors: H
authors: Ning
authors: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors: Y B
authors: YB
authors: Chen
authors: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors: Ming-Hui
authors: MH
authors: Lu
authors: Condensed Matter Science and Technology Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors: Shan-Tao
authors: ST
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors: Xianran
authors: X
authors: Xing
authors: Institute of Materials Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Alarich-Weiss-Strasse 2, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Rödel
authors: 1] Condensed Matter Science and Technology Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China [2] Department of Mathematics and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors: Wenwu
authors: W
authors: Cao
authors: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors: Yan-Feng
authors: YF
authors: Chen