Enhanced electrical properties by AC poling of relaxor-Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 single crystals manufactured by the solid state crystal growth method

An exceptionally large free dielectric permittivity of 14200, piezoelectric coefficient (d (33)) of 4800 pC/N and calculated electromechanical coupling factor k (33) of 95.7% were obtained from Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3 (PMN) - Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) single crystals (SCs) under AC poling (ACP). The PMN -0.3PZT SCs grown by a solid-state crystal growth (SSCG) method with high composition uniformity showed a phase change temperature of 57 & DEG;C-72 & DEG;C and Curie temperature T (c) of 140 & DEG;C. The measured d (33) of 250 pC/N was obtained after a heat treatment at 250 & DEG;C, which is 110 & DEG;C higher than the T (c) of the SC. Microstructural observations revealed that the ACP SC showed a different 109 & DEG; domain wall layers morphology due to the presence of some pores, which is dissimilar to the Bridgman ACP relaxor-PbTiO3 SCs. These outstanding piezoelectric properties, heat durability, lower acoustic impedance, and better machinability of ACP SSCG SCs are promising for future piezoelectric device applications.