Piezoelectric and dielectric properties of (Bi0.5Na0.5)0.94Ba0.06TiO3–Ba(Zr0.04Ti0.96)O3 lead-free piezoelectric ceramics

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics of (1 − x)(Bi0.5Na0.5)0.94Ba0.06TiO3–xBa(Zr0.04Ti0.96)O3 (abbreviated as BNBT–BZT100x, wherein x from 0 to 10 mol%) were fabricated. We have studied effects of amount of BZT content on the electrical properties and microstructures. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that a solid solution is formed when BZT diffuses into the BNBT lattice, and further the crystal structure of sintered hybrid changes from rhombohedral to tetragonal symmetry along with increasing BZT content. Piezoelectric property measurements reveal that the BNBT–BZT4 ceramics has the highest piezoelectric performance, for example, the piezoelectric constant d33 reaches to 167 pC/N and planar electromechanical coupling factor kp is up to 0.27. In addition, the effect of Bi2O3 on the electrical properties and microstructure of the BNBT–BZT4 ceramics have also been studied, and found that the doping of Bi enhances the piezoelectric properties of ceramics.