Improving ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of PbFe1/4Sc1/4Nb1/2O3 ceramics by oxide doping prepared via a B-site oxide mixing route

Oxide-doped PbFe1/4Sc1/4Nb1/2O3 (PFSN) ceramics were prepared by the conventional ceramic processing via a B-site oxide mixing route. The oxide-doped PFSN ceramics exhibit pure rhombohedral perovskite structure and high relative density. Due to the MnO2 and Li2CO3 doping, the synthesized ceramics exhibit improved dielectric property, and excellent ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties, which can be attributed to a charge compensation mechanism where donor defects are generated by different ionization paths. The values of remnant polarization Pr, electromechanical coupling coefficient Kp and piezoelectric constant d33 of the MnO2- and Li2CO3-doped PFSN ceramics are 16.35 μC/cm2, 0.232 and 112.7 pC/N, and 29.22 μC/cm2, 0.241 and 112.5 pC/N, respectively. Therefore, oxide doping is an efficient method to improve dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of the PFSN-based ferroelectric ceramics.