Ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of (Ba0.7Ca0.3)(Ti1−xSnx)O3 lead-free ceramics

The ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of Sn
⁴⁺
modified (Ba
_0.7
Ca
_0.3
)(Ti
_1-x
Sn
_x
)O
₃
, (with x = 0.000 to 0.100 in steps of 0.025) lead free electroceramics were investigated. With Sn
⁴⁺
substitution, a structural phase transition from pure tetragonal to pseudo-cubic structure has been observed; which strongly influence the ferroelectric/ piezoelectric nature of the samples. At room temperature, all the samples exhibit typical polarization-electric field hysteresis as well as field induced strain butterfly loop which confirms the ferroelectric and piezoelectric nature. As Sn
⁴⁺
content increases, the ferroelectric properties seems to be suppressed while the piezoelectric properties gets improved up to x = 0.075 and then decreased. Moderately high remanent polarization (P
_r
) and low coercive field (E
_c
) were observed for all compositions, which may be essential for storage and switching applications.