Enhancing piezoelectric properties of BiScO₃-PbTiO₃ ceramics via- incorporation of Bi(Zn_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃ with high spontaneous polarization

High-performance piezoelectric materials are the core elements for the fabrication piezoelectric transducers and actuators. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for piezoelectric materials with both high operational temperature and large piezoelectricity. However, the conventional approach of soft doping to enhance the piezoelectric response often results in a reduction in Curie temperature. To address this issue, we incorporated Bi(Zn_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃ with a large spontaneous polarization (P_s ∼ 100 µC/cm²) and high Curie temperature (T_c ∼ 1380 °C) into BiScO₃-PbTiO₃ ceramics to improve the piezoelectric response while maintaining high T_c. The newly developed 0.08Bi(Zn_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃-0.335BiScO₃-0.585PbTiO₃ ceramic exhibits impressive properties including a high d₃₃ value of 585 pC/N (increased by ∼ 33 % compared to the 0.36BiScO₃-0.64PbTiO₃ ceramics), an electromechanical coupling coefficient k₃₃ of 0.75, a dielectric constant ε′ of 2380, a relatively high T_c of 421 °C. These remarkable improvements hold great promise for advancing high-temperature piezoelectric devices.