Multiscale reconfiguration induced highly saturated poling in lead-free piezoceramics for giant energy conversion

Jinfeng Lin; Jin Qian; Guanglong Ge; Yuxuan Yang; Jiangfan Li; Xiao Wu; Guohui Li; Simin Wang; Yingchun Liu; Jialiang Zhang; Jiwei Zhai; Xiaoming Shi; Haijun Wu

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46894-5

Multiscale reconfiguration induced highly saturated poling in lead-free piezoceramics for giant energy conversion

Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 22;15(1):2560. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46894-5.

Authors

Jinfeng Lin¹, Jin Qian¹, Guanglong Ge¹, Yuxuan Yang², Jiangfan Li³, Xiao Wu⁴, Guohui Li¹, Simin Wang¹, Yingchun Liu⁵, Jialiang Zhang³, Jiwei Zhai⁶, Xiaoming Shi⁷, Haijun Wu⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
² State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, P. R. China.
³ School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Eco-materials Advanced Technology, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China.
⁵ Functional Materials and Acoustooptic Instruments Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. apzhai@tongji.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China. shiming_870@163.com.
⁸ State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, P. R. China. wuhaijunnavy@xjtu.edu.cn.

Abstract

The development of high-performance lead-free K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃-based piezoceramics for replacing commercial lead-containing counterparts is crucial for achieving environmentally sustainable society. Although the proposed new phase boundaries (NPB) can effectively improve the piezoelectricity of KNN-based ceramics, the difficulty of achieving saturated poling and the underlying multiscale structures resolution of their complex microstructures are urgent issues. Here, we employ a medium entropy strategy to design NPB and utilize texture engineering to induce crystal orientation. The developed K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃-based ceramics enjoys both prominent piezoelectric performance and satisfactory Curie temperature, thus exhibiting an ultrahigh energy harvesting performance as well as excellent transducer performance, which is highly competitive in both lead-free and lead-based piezoceramics. Comprehensive structural analysis have ascertained that the field-induced efficient multiscale polarization configurations irreversible transitions greatly encourages high saturated poling. This study demonstrates a strategy for designing high-performance piezoceramics and establishes a close correlation between the piezoelectricty and the underlying multiscale structures.