title: Improved ferroelectric/piezoelectric properties and bright green/UC red emission in (Li,Ho)-doped CaBi4Ti4O15 multifunctional ceramics with excellent temperature stability and superior water-resistance performance.
abstract: Multifunctional materials based on rare earth ion doped ferro/piezoelectrics have attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this work, new lead-free multifunctional ceramics of Ca1-x(LiHo)x/2Bi4Ti4O15 were prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction method. The great multi-improvement in ferroelectricity/piezoelectricity, down/up-conversion luminescence and temperature stability of the multifunctional properties is induced by the partial substitution of (Li0.5Ho0.5)(2+) for Ca(2+) ions in CaBi4Ti4O15. All the ceramics possess a bismuth-layer structure, and the crystal structure of the ceramics is changed from a four layered bismuth-layer structure to a three-layered structure with the level of (Li0.5Ho0.5)(2+) increasing. The ceramic with x = 0.1 exhibits simultaneously, high resistivity (R = 4.51 × 10(11)Ω cm), good piezoelectricity (d33 = 10.2 pC N(-1)), high Curie temperature (TC = 814 °C), strong ferroelectricity (Pr = 9.03 μC cm(-2)) and enhanced luminescence. These behaviours are greatly associated with the contribution of (Li0.5Ho0.5)(2+) in the ceramics. Under the excitation of 451 nm light, the ceramic with x = 0.1 exhibits a strong green emission peak centered at 545 nm, corresponding to the transition of the (5)S2→(5)I8 level in Ho(3+) ions, while a strong red up-conversion emission band located at 660 nm is observed under the near-infrared excitation of 980 nm at room temperature, arising from the transition of (5)F5→(5)I8 levels in Ho(3+) ions. Surprisingly, the excellent temperature stability of ferroelectricity/piezoelectricity/luminescence and superior water-resistance behaviors of piezoelectricity/luminescence are also obtained in the ceramic with x = 0.1. Our study suggests that the present ceramics may have potential applications in advanced multifunctional devices at high temperature.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China. ddmd222@sicnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Yongquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Mijie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Qiaoji
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xiaochun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhiguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Dunmin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lin