Effect of Mn doping on the piezoelectric properties of 0.82Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3–0.03Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–0.15Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 ferroelectric ceramics

Mn-doped 0.82Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3–0.03Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–0.15Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 ceramics were prepared by conventional solid state reaction method. We investigated in detail the effects of adding MnO2 on the structure and electrical properties of the PMS–PZN–PZT ceramics. With a small addition of MnO2 (≤0.4 wt%), the Mn ions were homogeneously dissolved in the PMS–PZN–PZT ceramic, leading to full densification when sintered at 1250 °C. However, further addition of MnO2 prevented densification, causing a high porosity and small grain size. The doping of MnO2 was found to transform the phase structure from tetragonal to rhombohedral. The addition of MnO2 up to a maximum of 0.4 wt%, remarkably improved the mechanical quality factor (Q m) of PMS–PZN–PZT ceramics as well as maintained high d 33 and K p values. The piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of these samples were also investigated through measurements of the ferroelectric hysteresis loops and electric field induced strain curves. With increasing Mn content from 0 to 0.4 wt%, the internal bias field was increased drastically. In addition, ambient temperature normalized strain View the MathML sourced33⁎ and direct piezoelectric coefficient d33d33 were increased from 194 pm/V and 132 pC/N to 415 pm/V and 358 pC/N, respectively. The origin of the internal bias field is attributed to the defect dipoles, which were formed by the acceptor impurities and oxygen vacancies. PMS–PZN–PZT doped with 0.4 wt% MnO2 exhibits excellent electrical properties with d33=358 pC/N, Kp=0.61, Qm=1200, εr=1232, tan δ=0.0041, and TC=285 °C.