Growth and characterization of Pb(Lu1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ternary piezo-/ferroelectric crystals

• PLN-PMN-PT Piezo-/ferroelectric crystals are grown by TSSG method.
• The Curie temperature and coercive field increase gradually with increasing PT.
• The crystal of 0.34PLN-0.31PMN-0.35PT possesses excellent electric properties.

Piezo-/ferroelectric crystals of Pb(Lu1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ternary solid solution system with high Curie temperature, in the vicinity of morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region, are grown by the top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method for the first time. The compositions and structures of the crystals are analyzed, all the structures are found to have pure perovskite structure using X-ray diffraction analysis. Di-/piezo-/ferroelectric properties of the crystals are also characterized systematically. The Curie temperature Tc and coercive field Ec, increase gradually with increasing PbTiO3 content. In particular, the crystal with composition 0.34PLN-0.31PMN-0.35PT possesses excellent electric properties including the Curie temperature, the rhombohedral–tetragonal phase transition temperature, the piezoelectric coefficient, the remnant polarization and the coercive field, which are Tc = 228 °C, TRT = 156 °C, d33 = 2092 pC N−1, Pr = 35.5 μC cm−2 and Ec = 8.1 kV cm−1, respectively, making it a promising material for transducers or detectors in a wide temperature range.