Effects of CeO2 addition on the piezoelectric properties of PNW–PMN–PZT ceramics

Temperature stability and electrical properties of the piezoelectric material are very important in piezoelectric transformers applications. In this study, it was investigated the temperature stability of PNW–PMN–PZT with CeO2 additives and the variation of Zr/Ti ratio. Meanwhile, effects of CeO2 additives and the variation of Zr/Ti ratio on the microstructure and electrical properties of PNW–PMN–PZT were investigated in detail. The results revealed that the optimized temperature stability of Δfr/fr25 °C = 0.15%, ΔKp/Kp25 °C = −0.86% and ΔQm/Qm25 °C = −45.26% could be attained at x = 0.1 wt.% and Zr/Ti = 51/49. Moreover, optimized electrical properties were achieved: Kp = 0.60, Qm = 1405, d33 = 388 pC/N, ɛr = 2140 and tan δ = 0.0059. The obtained temperature stabilities and electrical properties make this composition a good candidate for high power piezoelectric transformer applications.