Improved dielectric and piezoelectric properties of Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)-PbTiO3 ternary ferroelectric ceramics

Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) binary ferroelectric ceramics has received extensive attention due to the excellent dielectric and piezoelectric properties. However, its Curie temperature (Tc) is greatly reduced by Sm doping and Tc is only 89 °C at the optimum piezoelectric coefficient. In this work, Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)-PbTiO3 (Sm: PMN-PZN-PT) ternary ferroelectric ceramics near MPB were successfully manufactured and the crystal structure, microstructure and electric properties were investigated with respect to Sm doping content. A high piezoelectric coefficient of 870 pC/N and a high Tc of 146 °C were achieved simultaneously in PMN-PZN-PT ternary ceramics with 1% Sm doping content. In addition, the room temperature dielectric constant was greatly improved by Sm doping and the Pr, Ps and Ec values gradually decrease with the increase of Sm content. These results indicate that Sm-doped PMN-PZN-PT ceramics may be an attractive material for high performance piezoelectric device applications.