Effect of La and Mn on the properties of alkaline niobate-based piezoelectric ceramics

Lead-free ferroelectric (K0.44Na0.52Li0.04)(Nb0.86Ta0.1Sb0.04)O3 ceramics co-doped with different amounts of both La and Mn have been produced using solid-state synthesis method. The relative density values of the unmodified sample are between 92 and 96% and decreases to ∼91% for the sample with 1 mol% of the co-doping. Bi-modal grain distribution is observed in the samples while the average grain size decreases with co-doping due to grain growth inhibition by pinning of the grain boundary movement. The diffraction patterns show a transformation from an orthorhombic phase to a pseudo-tetragonal phase with co-dopants addition. The Curie temperature and the tetragonal-orthorhombic transition temperatures are lowered from ∼9000 at 330 °C without modification to ∼4000 at temperatures below 250 °C with co-dopant addition. The dielectric loss values of the samples also decrease from ∼0.4 to 0.05 for temperatures up to 250 °C with co-doping. The remnant polarisation Pr of the samples decreases from ∼8.55 kV/cm to ∼6.57 kV/cm with co-dopant addition. The piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33), including the normalised strain values, also decrease from ∼400 pm/V and 220 pC/N to 157 pm/V and 159 pC/N, respectively with co-dopants up to 1 mol%.