Dielectric and ferroelectric properties of Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3–Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 ternary ceramics

Ternary ceramics with the type of (1 − x)(0.64PNN–0.36PT)–x(0.91PZN–0.09PT) (x = 0–0.82) were synthesized by the columbite precursor method. X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that all the samples lie within the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region in the pure perovskite structure except for the composition with x = 0.82. The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of compositions with x = 0–0.75 were investigated in detail. All the tested compositions show dielectric behaviors of frequency dispersion and diffuse phase transition. The Ni-rich compositions exhibit superior dielectric and ferroelectric properties to those of Ni-poor ones. The composition with x = 0.15 has the maximum peak dielectric constant (23,410) at 1 kHz and the maximum remnant polarization (14.8 μC/cm2) with the driving electric field at 10 kV/cm. The variation of peak dielectric constant with x can be explained in terms of the product rate of the polar microregion in the materials.