Enhanced piezoelectric properties in 0.96(K0.48Na0.52)(Nb1−xTax)O3–0.04(Bi0.5Ag0.5)ZrO3 lead-free ceramics

0.96(K0.48Na0.52)(Nb1???xTax)O3???0.04(Bi0.5Ag0.5)ZrO3 lead-free ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reaction method. Because of the sensitive energy state in the coexisting phase structure, the addition of Ta5+ caused a palpable phase transformation from orthorhombic to tetragonal. At the same time, doping with (Bi0.5Ag0.5)ZrO3 could have effectively promoted densification and continued to enhance the piezoelectric and dielectric properties. Enhanced dielectric/ferroelectric properties were achieved for the ceramics which has a composition of (x???=???0.15), and the ceramics expressed a high d33 of?????????373 pC/N with a TC of?????????255 ??C. We believe that to design a binary phase system is a valid method to attain both large d33 and high TC in (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN)-based lead-free ceramics.