High-performance and high-thermally stable PSN-PZT piezoelectric ceramics achieved by high-temperature poling

High piezoelectric properties and superior thermal stability are both important indicators of piezoelectric ceramics serving at high temperature. However, since these properties are usually mutually exclusive, high performance and superior thermal stability are hard to achieve simultaneously. Here we report that a high piezoelectricity (d33 ∼ 562 pC/N) and superior thermal stability (the variation is within 7% from 20 to 330 °C) were both achieved in 0.4 mol% ZnO-doped 0.02Pb(Sb1/2Nb1/2)-0.51PbZrO3–0.47PbTiO3 by high-temperature poling. Compared with traditional poling method, high-temperature poling method forms a small-sized and highly oriented domain structure, which can effectively improve the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of piezoelectric ceramics. At the same time, the enhanced pinning effect of defect ions and stabilized domain structure due to high-temperature poling also contribute to the superior temperature stability of the piezoelectric and dielectric properties. This work provides an effective method for designing piezoelectric materials with high performance and good temperature stability for high temperature sensor applications.