Synthesis and characterization of Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O3-based high-Curie temperature piezoelectric ceramics

x Pb(Yb 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O3-(1 −  x )Pb(Zr 0.36 Ti 0.64 )O 3 ( x PYN-(1 −  x )PZT) piezoelectric ceramics were prepared by the conventional ceramic processing via a B-site oxide mixing route. The synthesized x PYN-(1 −  x )PZT ceramics exhibit majority of perovskite structure with slight content of impurity, which exhibit typical tetragonal structure with slight orthorhombic distortion depending on compositions. All the x PYN-(1 −  x )PZT ceramics exhibit high Curie temperature ( T C / T m ), higher than 380 °C, and their dielectric behavior above T C / T m can be fitted well by the Curie-Weiss law. The x PYN-(1 −  x )PZT ceramics exhibit large resistivity, and excellent ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties, which provide promising for the high-power and high-temperature piezoelectric applications. However, electric energy density of the x PYN-(1 −  x )PZT ceramics is small due to their nearly rectangular shape of polarization-electric field ( P-E ) hysteresis loop and early electric displacement saturation, which is not suitable for high energy and power storage applications.