Dielectric and piezoelectric properties of PMN-PT ceramics doped with strontium

Motivated by the need of piezoelectric ceramics with enhanced piezoelectric properties, we investigated the effects of Sr addition on the structural, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of PMN-PT ceramics. The synthesis of (1-x)[(Pb1−ySry)(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3]-x(Pb1−ySryTiO3) (PsMN-PsT) (y: 0 − 0.10, x: 0.35 - 0.40) ceramics was carried out by the colloidal coating method to distribute Sr uniformly in PMN and PT respectively. When x=0.35, it was found that y=0.02 gave the optimal piezoelectric properties. Furthermore, by keeping y=0.02 and varying x, it was found that x=0.37 gave even better piezoelectric properties with the optimal piezoelectric strain coefficient d33 (630 pC/N), piezoelectric coupling factor kp (0.52), dielectric constant εr (4000), and Curie temperature Tc (210 °C), exhibiting great potential for actuator and sensor applications.