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Perspective on the Development of Lead-Free Piezoceramics

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Dear Colleagues,

Over the last decade, the development of lead-free piezoelectric ceramics has become one of the “hot topics” due to the demand to replace lead zirconate in microelectronic devices. The current research activities are focused on strategies to improve the piezoelectric properties of lead-free materials: searching for systems with morphotropic or polymorphic phase boundaries, microstructure optimization, and texturing. Advancements in phase and microstructure engineering allow piezoceramics to be developed with the significant advantages of piezoelectric coefficients for potential applications in areas such as electronics, healthcare, and automotive applications. This Special Issue is dedicated to current research activities on the most recent developments in lead-free piezoceramics including novel material design and advanced fabrication techniques, as well as models for explaining piezoelectric response. The Special Issue invites researchers who work in material science, through both experimental and theoretical approaches, to submit their research work.

In addition, reviews and systematic reviews in the field of lead-free systems for piezoelectric applications are welcome.

Dr. Lavinia Petronela Curecheriu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

processing of lead-free ceramics
BaTiO₃-based materials
KNN-based ceramics
determination of piezoelectric and dielectric coefficients by impedance spectroscopy
poling of lead-free piezoelectrics

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13 pages, 6598 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ferroelectric, Dielectric and Electromechanical Performance of Ba_0.92Ca_0.08Ti_0.95Zr_0.05O₃ Ceramics with an Enhanced Curie Temperature

by Ana Cristina Hernández-Moreno, Armando Reyes-Montero, Brenda Carreño-Jiménez, Mónica Acuautla and Lorena Pardo

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2268; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062268 - 11 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1555

Abstract

Ba_0.92Ca_0.08Ti_0.95Zr_0.05O₃ (BCZT8-5) ceramic materials have been scarcely studied as lead-free piezo/ferroelectrics despite their enhanced Curie temperature (>100 °C) with respect to most studied BCZT compositions. In this work, homogeneous dense BCZT8-5 ceramics with grain size in the range of 20 μm, and optimum ferroelectric, dielectric, and electromechanical performance, were prepared by the mixed oxides route using moderate synthesis (1250 °C-2 h) and sintering (1400 °C-2 h) conditions. Thickness-poled thin disks and monomodal shear plate resonators were used for the determination of piezoelectric coefficients, coupling factors, elastic, and dielectric permittivity coefficients, including all losses, by iterative analysis of impedance curves at resonance. Furthermore, the thermal evolution of the piezoelectric characteristics at resonance was determined to assess the enhanced working range of the ceramics (≈100 °C). Ferroelectric hysteresis loops and strains vs. electric-field butterfly loops were also measured and showed soft behavior with E_c = 2 kV/cm, P_r = 12 μC/cm² after a maximum applied field of 3 kV was used. The ceramics showed a high endurance of P-E cycles to electrical fatigue up to 10⁷ cycles. Moreover, dielectric properties as a function of temperature were also accomplished and showed nearly normal ferroelectric behavior, characteristic of samples with low crystallographic disorder. Overall, these ceramics showed high sensitivity and higher stability than other currently studied BCZT compositions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perspective on the Development of Lead-Free Piezoceramics)

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16 pages, 5185 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of Processing Steps for Superior Functional Properties of (Ba, Ca)(Zr, Ti)O₃ Ceramics

by Cristina Elena Ciomaga, Lavinia P. Curecheriu, Vlad Alexandru Lukacs, Nadejda Horchidan, Florica Doroftei, Renaud Valois, Megane Lheureux, Marie Hélène Chambrier and Liliana Mitoseriu

Materials 2022, 15(24), 8809; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15248809 - 9 Dec 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1133

Abstract

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics with nominal composition at morphotropic phase boundary Ba_0.85Ca_0.15Ti_0.9Zr_0.1O₃ (BCTZ) prepared by different processing routes and sintered either by conventional solid-state reaction or by spark plasma sintering (SPS) techniques were comparatively investigated to observe the role of structural modifications and of microstructures on the dielectric, ferroelectric, piezoelectric and electrocaloric responses. The ceramics presented relative densities from 75% to 97% and showed variations in their phase composition as a result of variable mixing and different synthesis and sintering parameters providing local compositional heterogeneity. As result, all of the ceramics showed diffuse phase transition and ferroelectric switching responses, with parameters affected mostly by density (P_r between 3.6 to 10.1 μC/cm²). High values for the electrocaloric response in the Curie range were found for the ceramics with predominantly orthorhombic character. Field-induced structural modifications were probed by tunability anomalies and by XRD experiments in remanence conditions. Piezoelectric effects with notably high figure of merit values were assigned to the better densification and poling efficiency of BCTZ ceramics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perspective on the Development of Lead-Free Piezoceramics)

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