In situ electric field-dependent structural changes in (Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O3 with varying grain size

Kuhfuß M, Maier J, Hall DA, Xie B, Kleppe AK, Martin A, Kakimoto KI, Khansur NH, Webber KG (2024)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2024

Journal

Journal of Applied Physics AIP Publishing

Book Volume: 135

Article Number: 174101

Journal Issue: 17

DOI: 10.1063/5.0203652

Abstract

The functional properties of piezoelectric ceramic materials, such as barium titanate, are highly dependent on grain size. Lead-free polycrystalline Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT) samples were prepared with a combination of the hydrothermal method and spark plasma sintering to achieve grain sizes from 100 nm to 10 μm by varying the maximum sintering temperature. In this range, a transition from a nearly linear dielectric to a ferroelectric response can be seen in macroscopic electromechanical measurements, demonstrating the importance of grain size on functional properties in BCZT. Furthermore, in situ electric field-dependent synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements were performed to quantify the intrinsic and extrinsic strain contributions and their variations with grain size. At lower grain sizes, the data revealed a significant loss of extrinsic contributions in the piezoelectric behavior, limiting the response to intrinsic contribution associated with lattice strain. For BCZT, a critical grain size between approximately 0.08 and 0.18 μm is proposed, below which no piezoelectric response was observed.

Authors with CRIS profile

Michel Kuhfuß Lehrstuhl für Glas und Keramik Juliana Maier Lehrstuhl für Glas und Keramik Neamul Hayet Khansur Lehrstuhl für Glas und Keramik Kyle Grant Webber Professur für Werkstoffwissenschaften (Funktionskeramik)

Involved external institutions

University of Manchester GB United Kingdom (GB) Diamond Light Source GB United Kingdom (GB) Nagoya Institute of Technology / 名古屋工業大学 Nagoya Kōgyō Daigaku JP Japan (JP)

How to cite

APA:

Kuhfuß, M., Maier, J., Hall, D.A., Xie, B., Kleppe, A.K., Martin, A.,... Webber, K.G. (2024). In situ electric field-dependent structural changes in (Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O3 with varying grain size. Journal of Applied Physics, 135(17). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0203652

MLA:

Kuhfuß, Michel, et al. "In situ electric field-dependent structural changes in (Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O3 with varying grain size." Journal of Applied Physics 135.17 (2024).

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