Influence of defect structure on ferroelectric aging in donor–acceptor hybrid-doped PZT

In the present work, we report the aging effect in manganese (Mn) and niobium (Nb) hybrid-doped PZT composition. Interestingly, it is observed that the ferroelectric aging depends on the acceptor/donor ratio. In hybrid-doped PZT, at high donor dopant concentrations, aging is not observed. The underlying mechanism is correlated with the defect chemistry of the system. It is also observed that tuning the defect chemistry is an effective strategy to realize piezoceramics with enhanced dielectric and piezoelectric characteristics.