Growth and characterization of Mn-doped Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 lead-free ferroelectric single crystal

High-quality and large-size ferroelectric single crystal of 1 at.% Mn-doped Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 has been successfully grown by top-seeded solution growth technique. X-ray fluorescence analysis determines the actual Mn concentration of 0.24 at.% in as-grown Mn-doped Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 crystal, indicating a very low value of Mn ions diffusion into crystal lattice. Temperature dependence of dielectric constant at different frequencies shows that the dielectric relaxor behavior becomes more distinct after Mn-doping. Moreover, the domain size of Mn-doped Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 crystal becomes smaller than that of pure Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 crystal. At room temperature, the [001]-oriented Mn-doped Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 crystal shows enhanced dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties compared with that of pure Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 crystal. It is clearly demonstrated that Mn-doping is a very effective tool to improve electrical performance of Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 based single crystals.