Boosting of Magnetic, Ferroelectric, Energy Storage Efficiency, and Piezoelectric Properties of Zn Intercalated SrBi(4)Ti(4)O(15)-Based Ceramics

An appropriate amount of Zn-ions are incorporated into the high Curie temperature bismuth layer-structure ferroelectric material to fabricate Sr(0.2)Na(0.4)Pr(0.4)Bi(4)Ti(4)O(15):xwt%ZnO; (SNPBT:xZn), with x = 0, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 ceramic series to investigate the magnetic, ferroelectric, and energy storage efficiency and piezoelectric properties. Pure SNPBT and SNPBT:xZn ceramics have maintained their structure even after the intercalation of Zn-ions at the lattice sites of SNPBT. The addition of ZnO in SNPBT has improved the multifunctional properties of the material at x = 0.15. At room temperature, SNPBT:0.15Zn has shown a high relative density of 96%, exhibited weak ferromagnetic behavior along with a low saturation magnetization (M(s)) of 0.028 emu/g with a low coercive field of 306 Oe, a high remnant polarization (P(r)) of 9.04 µC/cm(2), a recoverable energy density ([Formula: see text]) of ~0.5 J/cm(3), an energy conversion efficiency (η) of ~41%, a high piezoelectric co-efficient (d(33)) of 21 pC/N, and an impedance of 1.98 × 10(7) Ω, which are much improved as compared to pure SBT or pure SNPBT ceramics. Dielectric Constant (ɛ(r)) versus temperature plots present the sharp peak for SNPBT:0.15Zn ceramic at a Curie temperature (T(C)) ~ 605 °C, confirming the strong ferroelectric nature of the ceramic. Moreover, SNPBT:0.15Zn ceramic has shown strong, piezoelectric, thermally stable behavior, which remains at 76% (16 pC/N) of its initial value even after annealing at 500 °C. The achieved results clearly indicate that SNPBT:0.15Zn ceramic is a promising candidate for future wide-temperature pulse power applications and high-temperature piezoelectric devices.