Giant piezoelectricity of Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals

Samarium supersensorsPiezoelectric materials produce electric charge in response to changes in stress and are thus good sensor materials. One challenge has been growing single-crystal piezoelectrics with uniform properties. As of now, much of the crystal is discarded because of compositional variati...

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Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2019-04, Vol.364 (6437), p.264-268
Main Authors: Li, Fei, Cabral, Matthew J, Xu, Bin, Cheng Zhenxiang, Dickey, Elizabeth C, LeBeau, James M, Wang, Jianli, Luo, Jun, Taylor, Samuel, Hackenberger Wesley, Bellaiche Laurent, Xu, Zhuo, Long-Qing, Chen, Shrout, Thomas R, Zhang, Shujun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Charge materials
Crystal growth
Crystals
Ferroelectric crystals
Ferroelectric materials
Ferroelectricity
First principles
Heterogeneity
Lead
Lead titanates
Mathematical analysis
Piezoelectricity
Properties (attributes)
Rare earth elements
Relaxors
Samarium
Scanning electron microscopy
Scanning transmission electron microscopy
Single crystals
Transducers
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary:Samarium supersensorsPiezoelectric materials produce electric charge in response to changes in stress and are thus good sensor materials. One challenge has been growing single-crystal piezoelectrics with uniform properties. As of now, much of the crystal is discarded because of compositional variations. Li et al. synthesized single crystals of samarium-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 that have uniform and extremely high piezoelectric properties (see the Perspective by Hlinka). These crystals are ideal for a variety of sensing applications and could reduce cost by eliminating waste.Science, this issue p. 264; see also p. 228High-performance piezoelectrics benefit transducers and sensors in a variety of electromechanical applications. The materials with the highest piezoelectric charge coefficients (d33) are relaxor-PbTiO3 crystals, which were discovered two decades ago. We successfully grew Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (Sm-PMN-PT) single crystals with even higher d33 values ranging from 3400 to 4100 picocoulombs per newton, with variation below 20% over the as-grown crystal boule, exhibiting good property uniformity. We characterized the Sm-PMN-PT on the atomic scale with scanning transmission electron microscopy and made first-principles calculations to determine that the giant piezoelectric properties arise from the enhanced local structural heterogeneity introduced by Sm3+ dopants. Rare-earth doping is thus identified as a general strategy for introducing local structural heterogeneity in order to enhance the piezoelectricity of relaxor ferroelectric crystals.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aaw2781