Effects of sintering temperature and poling conditions on the electrical properties of Bi0.50(Na0.70K0.20Li0.10)0.50TiO3 piezoelectric ceramics

In this work, effects of sintering temperature and poling condition on the electrical properties of Bi0.50(Na0.70K0.20Li0.10)0.50TiO3 (BNKLT) ceramics were systematically investigated, and these ceramics were prepared by the normal sintering. A pure perovskite phase is demonstrated for these ceramics sintered at 1040–1140 °C. The poling temperature and poling electric field strongly affect the piezoelectric properties of BNKLT ceramics, and an enhanced piezoelectric behavior of d33 ∼ 215 pC/N and kp ∼ 33.8% is demonstrated for the ceramic sintered at 1100 °C when poled at a temperature of ∼15 °C and ∼5.68 kV/mm. The electric field-induced depolarization temperature of BNKLT ceramics is clearly observed by measuring the temperature dependence of the dielectric loss of these ceramics poled at different electric fields, and this value increases with an increase in poling electric field. These underlying physical mechanisms were addressed.