Piezoelectric properties of zirconium-doped barium titanate single crystals grown by templated grain growth

Abstract

Single crystals of Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 were grown by templated grain growth (TGG). Millimeter size single crystals of Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 were produced by heating a BaTiO3 crystal in contact with a sintered polycrystalline matrix of 4.5, 5.0, or 8.5 mol % Zr-doped barium titanate for 30 h at 1350 °C. To facilitate boundary migration, the ceramic compact was made 3 mol % TiO2 excess. The 4.5 and 5.0 mol % Zr-doped crystals were orthorhombic at room temperature, and for a pseudocubic (001) orientation, they showed remanent polarizations of 13 μC/cm2 and a high field d33 of 340–355 pC/N. The 8.5 mol % Zr-doped crystal [again oriented along the pseudocubic (001)] was rhombohedral at room temperature with a remanent polarization of 10 μC/cm2. A k33 value of 0.74 from resonance measurements was observed for the 4.5 mol % Zr-doped crystal.