Ultrahigh electrostrictive coefficient and hysteresis-free electrostrictive strain in textured BCZT ceramic

Precision-controlled systems necessitate electronic actuators with large displacement, high precision, and miniaturization. Therefore, advanced ferroelectric functional ceramic materials must exhibit substantial displacement responsiveness, minimal hysteresis, and performance stability. Modifying electrostrictive ceramics to enhance the electrostrictive coefficient (Q₃₃) through conventional doping strategies has proven challenging. To address this, grain-oriented textured ceramics harness crystalline anisotropy to elevate Q₃₃ and electrostrictive strain response. In this work, we employ the template grain growth (TGG) method integrating preprepared BaTiO₃ (BT) microtemplates, to cultivate <001>-oriented 0.5Ba(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O₃-0.5(Ba_0.7Ca_0.3)TiO₃ (BCZT) ceramics. Remarkably, the <001>-oriented BCZT ceramic manifests a substantial Q₃₃ value of 0.066 m⁴/C², marking a 65 % increase compared to randomly oriented ceramics. Under 100 kV/cm, ultra-high electrostrictive strain response (0.23%) and minimal hysteresis (1−8%) were achieved. Crucially, this elevated Q₃₃ remains thermally stable within the range of 20−100 °C. This advancement not only enables the production of electrostrictive ceramics with improved Q₃₃ and hysteresis-free strain but also broadens the application horizon of BCZT-based electrostrictive ceramics within high-precision actuator technologies.