Remarkable piezoelectric activity and high electrical resistivity in Cu/Nb co-doped Bi4Ti3O12 high temperature piezoelectric ceramics

Abstract Cu/Nb co-doped Aurivillius type Bi4Ti3-x(Cu1/3Nb2/3)xO12 (BTCN) ceramics were investigated as a potential candidate for high temperature piezoelectric application. The microstructure, phase structure and resulting piezoelectric properties and conduction behaviors were systematically investigated. A remarkable d33 of 38 pC/N was achieved in the ceramic with a composition of x = 0.015, which may be ascribed to the enhancement of remanent polarization and decrease of coercive field. Moreover, a high DC resistivity of 8.39 × 106 Ω·cm at 500 °C was also obtained in the composition, due to the decrease of the oxygen vacancy concentration induced by the doped Cu/Nb. Furthermore, the ceramic also exhibited stable thermal annealing behaviors and excellent fatigue resistance. All the results demonstrated the great potential of the Cu/Nb co-doped Bi4Ti3O12 ceramics for high temperature piezoelectric applications.