Electric field-induced phase transitions and composition-driven nanodomains in rhombohedral-tetragonal potassium-sodium niobate-based ceramics

The mechanisms behind the high piezoelectricity of (K,Na)NbO3-based lead-free ceramics were investigated, including electric field-induced phase transitions and composition-driven nanodomains. The construction of a rhombohedral-tetragonal (R-T) phase boundary, confirmed using several advanced techniques, allowed a large piezoelectric constant (d33) of 450 ± 5 pC/N to be obtained in (1-x)K0.4Na0.6Nb0.945Sb0.055O3-xBi0.5Na0.5(Hf1-ySny)O3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.06 and 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.5) ceramics possessing an ultralow ΔUT-R of 7.4 meV. More importantly, the existence of an intermediate phase, i.e., the electric-induced phase (EIP), bridging the rhombohedral R [Ps//(111)] and tetragonal T [Ps//(001)] phases during the polarization rotation was demonstrated. Striped nanodomains (∼40 nm) that easily responded to external stimulation were also observed in the ceramics with an R-T phase. Thus, the enhanced piezoelectric properties originated from EIP and the striped nanodomains.

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