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Potassium–sodium niobate lead-free piezoelectric ceramics: recent advances and perspectives

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Abstract

Potassium–sodium niobate lead-free piezoceramics have received considerable attention for replacing lead-based ones in some practical applications. This review covers the fundamental aspects of potassium–sodium niobate lead-free piezoelectrics in terms of the relationships between new phase boundaries and high piezoelectric activity. The enhancement in its piezoelectric response is primarily concerned for piezoelectric devices. For a potassium–sodium niobate material, the phase boundaries modifications are important to achieve a high piezoelectric activity. In addition, the compositions concerning phase boundaries have a significant impact on the intensities of piezoelectric properties. Correct evaluation of piezoelectric properties is becoming more important in enabling an accurate comparison of a number of studies based on different systems. In the latter part, our recent advances in its piezoelectric properties are presented with a focus on potassium–sodium niobate to give an overview of the various problems and solutions.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the supports of the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC Nos. 51102173, 51272164, 51332003, and 51472169), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2012SCU04A01), and the College of Materials Science and Engineering of Sichuan University.

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  1. Department of Materials Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, People’s Republic of China

    Jiagang Wu, Dingquan Xiao & Jianguo Zhu

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Wu, J., Xiao, D. & Zhu, J. Potassium–sodium niobate lead-free piezoelectric ceramics: recent advances and perspectives. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 9297–9308 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-3084-2

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