Highly (00l)-textured BiFeO3 thick films integrated on stainless steel foils with an optimized piezoelectric performance

Abstract

Piezoelectric BiFeO3 films were successfully prepared on 304 stainless steel (SS) foils via RF-magnetron sputtering at 450 °C. By adopting a LaNiO3/Pt/Ti tri-layer bottom electrode, a predominant (100)-orientation and a better crystalline morphology were achieved in the BiFeO3 film, resulting in better ferroelectric and dielectric properties targeted for piezoelectric applications than those directly grown on SS or LaNiO3/SS. These properties include a large remnant polarization (Pr~68 μC/cm2), a large coercive field (Ec~241 kV/cm) and a sizable self-bias (Ebi~ 158 kV/cm), as well as a low dielectric constant and a reduced dielectric loss (εr≤200 and tan δ ≤ 0.026 in 1 kHz-1 MHz). Based on this optimal BiFeO3-SS heterostructure, large converse and direct transverse piezoelectric coefficients |e31,f| ~ 1.7 C/m2 and 1.07 C/m2 were achieved in prototype piezoelectric actuator and energy harvester structures, respectively. These results suggest that BiFeO3-SS heterostructures have a great potential for applications in lead-free, metal-based piezoelectric micro-electro- mechanical systems (piezo-MEMS).