Extremely large strain response under low driving electric fields in lead-based textured piezoelectric ceramics

The large strain response and low strain hysteresis of piezoelectric ceramics under low driving electric fields have been eagerly anticipated for actuators applications. However, it remains challenge to simultaneously achieve both of the above properties under low driving electric fields for piezoelectric ceramics. In this work, composition design and texture technique were integrated to develop 1%Sm-doped Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–30PbTiO₃ (Sm-PMN-PT) textured ceramics to address this challenge. We demonstrate Sm-PMN-PT textured ceramics with highly [001]c orientation exhibit ultrahigh strain response and the lower strain hysteresis under low driving electric fields. At 2 kV/mm, a large strain value of 0.27% and a low hysteresis of 15% were acquired. In addition, the microstructure and crystal structure of Sm-PMN-PT textured ceramics and its random counterpart were studied as well as their electrical properties. This research results provide a new promising candidate materials for developing high-performance piezoelectric actuators with low driving electric fields.