Impact of ba²⁺on structure and electrical properties of 0.65PMN-0.35PT ceramics

Ba-doped PMN-0.35PT (PMN-0.35PT-xBa) (x = 0 – 0.05) relaxor ferroelectric ceramics were prepared with a two-step columbite precursor method. The effect of using Ba²⁺to modify the structure and electrical properties of PMN-0.35PTxBa ceramics near the morphotropic phase boundary was investigated. The introduction of Ba dopant significantly improved the densification of the ceramics and the growth of the grain, but also profoundly modified the phase structure. The study demonstrated that the substitution of Ba main doping for A-site in the PMN-0.35PT lattice could affect electrical properties of PMN-0.35PT binary ceramics. Increasing the dosage of Ba led to enhancement of the ferroelectric response and remarkably increased the electrostrictive response. Results in this study indicated that at a composition x of 3.0 mol%, a large strain response could be obtained with maximum strain as high as 0.13 % under the low field of 15 kV/cm at room temperature. The maximum piezoelectric performance is found at x = 0.05 (d₃₃= 508pC/N).