Effects of cerium on structures and electrical properties of (Nb, Ta) modified Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 piezoelectric ceramics

Abstract Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 high‐temperature piezoelectric ceramics composed of 0.03 mol (Nb, Ta) 5+ substituting B site and x mol CeO 2 ( x = 0–0.05, abbreviated as BCTNT100 x ) substituting A site were synthesized by the conventional solid‐state reaction method. The effects of Ce additive on the structures and electrical properties of resulting Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 ‐based ceramics were systematically investigated. In‐situ temperature‐dependent X‐ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that the phase structure of BCTNT100 x ceramics change from orthorhombic structure to tetragonal structure as temperature increased. The ceramics at Ce content x = 0.03 illustrated optimal performances with superior piezoelectric constant ( d 33 = 36.5 pC/N), high Curie temperature ( T C = 649 °C), and large remanent polarization (2 P r = 21.6 μC/cm 2 ). BCTNT3 ceramics also possessed high d 33 of 32.5 pC/N at an annealing temperature of 600°C, with electrical resistivity preserved at 10 6 Ω cm at 500 °C. These results demonstrate that BCTNT100 x ceramics can be used as high‐temperature piezoelectric devices.