Relaxor to Ferroelectric Transitions in (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3–Bi(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O3Solid Solutions

Recently, ( Bi 1/2 Na 1/2 ) TiO 3 solid solutions have been found to exhibit excellent dielectric and piezoelectric properties. In this study, the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of (1– x )( Bi 1/2 Na 1/2 ) TiO 3 – x Bi (Zn 1/2 Ti 1/2 )O 3 ( BNT – BZT ) solid solutions were investigated. Up to a solubility limit of 8% BZT , distortions to the parent cubic perovskite phase were observed in the diffraction data through splitting of the (001), (011), and (111) reflections. At low concentrations of BZT , the material behaved very much like a conventional ferroelectric, with well‐saturated loops with high remanent polarization ( P r ~ 35 μC/cm 2 ). As the BZT content increased, the dielectric behavior displayed characteristics of relaxor behavior. Polarization hysteresis data at elevated temperatures and a thermal hysteresis in the dielectric maximum were evidence for a relaxor to ferroelectric transition.