Synthesis and piezoelectric properties of Li-doped BaTiO3 by a solvothermal approach

Li-doped BaTiO3 particles with the Li+ mole fraction, x, of 0–0.06 were synthesized by a solvothermal approach at 200 °C. The products consisted of nanoparticles of 50–100 nm in diameter. The sinterability and piezoelectric property of Li-doped BaTiO3 were improved by doping with Li ion, i.e., the Li-doped BaTiO3 samples could be sintered to almost full theoretical density (>95%) at a low temperature such as 1100 °C, and the highest piezoelectric constant, d33 (260 pC/N) and electromechanical coupling factor, kp (43.7%) could be realized at x value of 0.03. The Curie temperatures of all samples were around 130 °C, and did not change very much depending on the amount of Li-doping.