High piezoelectric response in the new coexistent phase boundary of 0.87BaTiO3-(0.13-x)BaZrO3-xCaTiO3

An investigation of the coexistent ferroelectric phase was carried out on the ternary system of 0.87BaTiO3-(0.13-x)BaZrO3-xCaTiO3 [abbreviated as BT-BZ-xCT (where 0.00≤x≤0.13)]. Temperature-, frequency-dependent dielectric data, electric field-dependent strain and polarization as a function of composition are presented in order to understand the relationships of structure-properties and find the high piezoelectric response in this system. Results showed that ceramics in the composition range of 0.00≤x<0.04 were of a rhombohedral structure and transformed into a tetragonal structure at x>0.06. The multiphase coexistence of the rhombohedral and tetragonal phase in this system was identified at x=0.06. A large, virtually hysteresis-free electric field induced strain of 0.23% was achieved with the composition, x=0.06, at 40kV/cm on the boundary between rhombohedral and tetragonal phase. This relates to an extraordinarily high and normalized piezoelectric coefficient (Smax/Emax) of 1280pm/V, which was reached at a low electric field applied at 10kV/mm. These results indicated that a high piezoelectric response may stem primarily from the rhombohedral-tetragonal phase boundary, due to greater lattice softening and reduced energy barriers for polarized rotation.