BaTiO3 nanowires-induced phase transition and thermally stable strain in (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3 piezoelectric ceramics

Abstract Environment-friendly lead-free piezoceramics with high strain response and extremely excellent stability in a wide operating temperature range are critically important in practical actuator applications. Here, we develop a new strategy to tune the electrostrictive strain behavior in Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT)-based ceramics via using high aspect ratio BaTiO3 nanowires (BT NWs) as a modifier. The addition of BT NWs generates a crossover from a typical ferroelectric (BT conventional spherical particles) to a complete ergodic relaxor (ER) phase at ambient temperature, accompanied by a large electrostrictive strain of ∼0.17% with d33*(Smax/Emax) = 284 pm/V. Such a high electrostrictive strain is extremely thermally stable with only