Effect of BiAlO 3 modification on the stability of antiferroelectric phase in PbZrO 3 ceramics prepared by conventional solid state reaction

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the polycrystalline (Pb (1−3 x/2) Bi x )(Zr 1−3 x/4 Al x )O 3 (PZO–BAO) ceramics, with x = 0.0–0.3, prepared by conventional solid state reaction. The crystal structure and thermal and dielectric properties of the sintered ceramics were investigated as a function of composition by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dielectric spectroscopy. The results indicated that the presence of BiAlO 3: BAO in the solid solution decreased the structural stability of the overall perovskite phase. Dielectric, thermal and P–E hysteresis results confirmed that no ferroelectric intermediate phase was seen in the PZO–BAO system. An antiferroelectric phase can be stable in a wide temperature range, indicating that BAO enhanced antiferroelectric phase stability in perovskite PZ manifests by “square” antiferroelectric behavior. Therefore, the (Pb (1−3 x/2) Bi x )(Zr 1−3 x/4 Al x )O 3 solid solution offers a material system for high-energy-storage capacitors and electromechanical transducers.