Textured ferroelectric ceramics with high electromechanical coupling factors over a broad temperature range

The figure-of-merits of ferroelectrics for transducer applications are their electromechanical coupling factor and the operable temperature range. Relaxor-PbTiO(3) ferroelectric crystals show a much improved electromechanical coupling factor k(33) (88~93%) compared to their ceramic counterparts (65~78%) by taking advantage of the strong anisotropy of crystals. However, only a few relaxor-PbTiO(3) systems, for example Pb(In(1/2)Nb(1/2))O(3)-Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O(3)-PbTiO(3), can be grown into single crystals, whose operable temperature range is limited by their rhombohedral-tetragonal phase transition temperatures (T(rt): 60~120 °C). Here, we develop a templated grain-growth approach to fabricate <001>-textured Pb(In(1/2)Nb(1/2))O(3)-Pb(Sc(1/2)Nb(1/2))O(3)-PbTiO(3) (PIN-PSN-PT) ceramics that contain a large amount of the refractory component Sc(2)O(3), which has the ability to increase the T(rt) of the system. The high k(33) of 85~89% and the greatly increased T(rt) of 160~200 °C are simultaneously achieved in the textured PIN-PSN-PT ceramics. The above merits will make textured PIN-PSN-PT ceramics an alternative to single crystals, benefiting the development of numerous advanced piezoelectric devices.