Morphotropic phase boundary,polymorphic phases and enhanced electrostrain/piezoelectricity in Ag1-xKxNbO3 solid-solution ceramics

Ag_1−xK_xNbO₃(AKNx (x ≤ 0.12) ceramics were prepared to understand the relationship of structure-properties driven by compositions and temperatures. The results suggested that this binary system possessed a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) consisted of ferrielectric and ferroelectric phases with iso-symmetry at room temperature, in which domains switching together with electric-field-induced irreversible phase transition achieved a much higher electrostrain (S_max = 0.4%) than other compositions. But this MPB was destroyed after poling, leading to inferior piezoelectricity. A phase diagram was drawn after analyzing in situ XRD and dielectric data, where an almost vertical ferrielectric/antiferroelectric ↔ polymorphic ferroelectric MPB line starting from a triple point was proposed. As temperature increased, the piezoelectricity significant enhanced near ferroelectric orthorhombic ↔ monoclinic phase boundary, while the highest piezoelectricity was achieved near the monoclinic ↔ paraelectric phase boundary with d₃₃ = 200 pC/N. The enhanced piezoelectricity is intimately related to the ferroelectric monoclinic possessing Pm symmetry.