ABSTRACT
Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.10Ti0.90O3 (BCZT) lead-free ceramics were prepared by sol–gel technique, and the influence of sintering temperature on phase evolution and electrical properties has been investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the BCZT ceramics sintered at 850°C do not well crystallized into perovskite phase and orthorhombic-tetragonal biphase coexists at higher sintering temperatures (1250–1350°C). The average grain size increases from 0.23 to 1.37 μm as the sintering temperature increases from 850 to 1400°C. The dielectric properties improve with increasing sintering temperature up to 1300°C. The BCZT ceramics sintered at 1300°C exhibit enhanced dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties with high dielectric constant ϵ′ ∼ 3470, low loss tangent (tanδ) of 0.053, spontaneous polarization Ps ∼ 12 μC/cm2, remnant polarization Pr ∼ 2.35 μC/cm2 and coercive field Ec ∼ 1.13 kV/cm and high d33 ∼ 367 pCN−1 while simultaneously maintaining a high Tc above 100°C.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).