Large electrostrain in Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3-based relaxor ferroelectrics: A case study of Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3-Bi1/2K1/2TiO3-Bi(Ni2/3Nb1/3)O3 ceramics

(1-x)(0.8Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3-0.2Bi1/2K1/2TiO3)-xBi(Ni2/3Nb1/3)O3 (BNKT-xBNN) solid solution ceramics were fabricated by high temperature solid-state reaction method. All the compositions possess relaxor ferroelectric features, among which the ergodic BNKT-0.02BNN exhibits large repeatable electrostrain value Suni = 0.51% at electric field of 65 kV/cm, with high piezoelectric stain coefficient d33∗ of 890 pm/V at 45 kV/cm, while the non-ergodic compositions present unrepeatable large strain response. Based on the electric field-composition phase diagram, the repeatability of strain response in ergodic compositions can be attributed to the reversible electric-field-induced phase transition. In addition, the effects of BNN contents on the macroscopic strain properties are explored by analyzing the existing states of the polar regions with corresponding thermal evolutions and electric-field-induced phase transitions. This research is expected to guide the design of lead free relaxor ferroelectric materials with desired electrostrain properties.