Single crystal growth and piezoelectric characterization of the bismuth triborate crystals

The bismuth triborate crystals BiB₃O₆ (BIBO) are multifunctional crystal materials with noncentrosymetric characteristics. In this paper, single crystal growth of BIBO crystals by using the top seeded solution method in a short period (within one month) was reported and the determination of the dielectric, elastic and piezoelectric constants were discussed for potential piezoelectric applications. For BIBO crystals with monoclinic symmetry, the full set of electro-elastic constants were evaluated taking advantage of the impedance method. Particularly, some parameters were obtained by designing and measuring the habitual facets of the BIBO crystals. It is interesting to find that the BIBO crystals possess high longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d₂₂ and shear piezoelectric coefficient d₃₄, being on the order of 40.0pC/N and 18.7pC/N, respectively, 3-7 times that of langasite crystals, showing the advantages for applications in piezoelectric field.