Effects of cobalt and sintering temperature on electrical properties of Ba0.98Ca0.02Zr0.02Ti0.98O3 lead-free ceramics

Lead-free (Ba_0.98Ca_0.02)(Zr_0.02Ti_0.98)O₃-xmol% (x = 0–1.6) cobalt ceramics (BCZT-xCo) have been fabricated by the traditional solid-state reaction technique and the effects of Co and sintering temperature on ferroelectric, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of (Ba_0.98Ca_0.02)(Zr_0.02Ti_0.98)O₃ lead-free ceramics have been studied systematically. The orthorhombic–tetragonal (T _O–T) transition shift towards lower temperature with increasing Co addition, while Curie temperature (T _c) remained at relatively high value of 107 °C. And the Main piezoelectric parameters are optimized at x = 0.8 mol% with a high piezoelectric coefficient (d ₃₃ = 330 pC/N), a planar mode electromechanical coupling factor (k _p = 46.7 %), a high dielectric constant (ε _r = 2,675) and a low dielectric loss (tanδ = 0.90 %) at 1kHZ. Besides these, high remnant polarization (P _r) and low coercive field (E _c) of 11.5 μC/cm², 0.31 kV/cm are also obtained at (Ba_0.98Ca_0.02)(Zr_0.02Ti_0.98)O₃-0.8 mol%Co lead-free ceramics. Furthermore, greatly enhanced temperature stability of the piezoelectric properties was obtained in the temperature range from 20 to 90 °C. The above results indicate that BCZT-Co ceramics are promising lead-free materials for practical applications.