Enhancement of piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of BaTiO3 ceramics by aluminum doping

Ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of BaTiO3 and Al-doped BaTiO3 ceramics were investigated. The ferroelectric study demonstrated that, by doping Al3+ ions in the A-site of BaTiO3, the polarization electric field loop exhibited enhanced remnant polarization (from 12 to 17.5 mu C/cm(2)), saturation and switching. In addition, the piezoelectric constant (d(33)) increased with Al-doping for both static and dynamic strain values (from 75 to 135 and from 29.2 to 57.9 pC/N, respectively, at a maximum applied electric field of 16 kV/cm). Furthermore, the dielectric constant values increased and both the dielectric loss factor and leakage current decreased, even though the transition temperature shifted to lower temperature (from 121 to 113 degrees C) for the Al-doped sample. Therefore, the Aldoped BaTiO3 has adjustable piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.