MnCO₃ modified PMN-PZT piezoelectric ceramics with enhancing mechanical quality factor and low loss

In this work, piezoelectric ceramics 0.125 Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-0.445PbZrO₃-0.43PbTiO₃ + x mol% MnCO₃ (abbreviated as xMn-PMN-PZT) were fabricated by the solid-state sintering method. The addition of MnCO₃ presented obvious changes in the phase structure, grain size, dielectric and piezoelectric performance. It was found that the doping of 2.5 mol% MnCO₃ can achieved the maximum mechanical quality factor Q_m ∼1806 compared to the small Q_m ∼96 for pure ceramics. Meanwhile, a moderate piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ ∼ 260 pC/N and a high Curie temperature T_c ∼325 °C were also achieved in 2.5Mn-PMN-PZT ceramics. These excellent properties were close to the hardening effect of MnCO₃ and the formation of defect dipoles in the MC-PMN-PZT ceramics.