Thermally stable piezoelectric performance in low-temperature sintered Pb _0.95 Ba _0.01 Sr _0.04 (Zr _0.53 Ti _0.47 )O ₃ ceramics with a low loss factor

Herein, Pb0.95Ba0.01Sr0.04(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 piezoelectric ceramics comprising 0.25 wt% MnCO3, 1 wt% LiBiO2 and 0.06 wt% CuO (PBSZT-LBCu-Mn ceramics, abbreviated as Mn0.25) were prepared via a conventional method at a low firing temperature of ∼900 °C. The phase structure and temperature-dependent electrical properties were systematically investigated. The product composition possesses the following properties: normalised strain (d33*) ∼362 pm/V, Curie temperature (Tc) ∼336 °C, mechanical quality factor (Qm) ∼568, loss factor (tan δ) ∼0.0058 and relative dielectric constant (ϵr) ∼872. The remnant polarisation (Pr), maximum polarisation (Pmax) and coercive field (Ec) slightly decreased as a function of increasing temperature, while the strain (Spol) was observed to increase. Additionally, d33* values of 362 and 411 pm/V were achieved at 25 °C and 120 °C, respectively, with a change ratio <14%. The Mn0.25 ceramics exhibit low ϵr and tan δ values, leading to small average power dissipation, which is beneficial for high-frequency actuator applications.