Simultaneous achievement of large strain, low hysteresis, and high-temperature stability in textured BT-based piezoelectric ceramics

BaTi03 (BT)-based piezoceramics with large temperature-stable strains and low hysteresis are urgently needed for high-precision actuators because of increasing environmental problems. Here, tetragonal [001]c-textured (Ba0.98Ca0.02) (Ti0.96Sn0.04)03 (BCTS) ceramics with a texture degree (F001) of '98% were obtained via the templated grain growth (TGG) method. A large maximum unipolar strain (Smax) of '0.24% with a low strain hysteresis (Hs) of '3.8% and an optimized piezoelectric strain coefficient (d33*) of '1124 pm<middle dot>V-1 are simultaneously achieved in the textured BCTS ceramics. Moreover, the variation in the strain response is less than 20% from room temperature (RT) to 100 degrees C for the textured ceramics. The underlying mechanism for the optimized strain performance could be attributed to the synergetic effect of the polarization extension and a fine domain structure. This work provides new insight for achieving a balance of multiple strain properties (large strain, low hysteresis, and high- temperature stability) in BT-based ceramics, showing the widespread application prospects of lead-free ceramics in high-precision actuators.