Effects of dopants on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of Sm-modified PbTiO3 ceramics

Doping effects on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of PbTiO3-based ceramics have been investigated. Sm-modified PbTiO3 ceramics, doped with BiFeO3 (BF) and Ba(Cu0.5W0.5)O3(BCW), were prepared by conventional mixed-oxide methods with sintering temperatures of 1000–1250°C. In this paper, we successfully show that these additives were helpful in lowering the sintering temperature while still obtaining similar dielectric and piezoelectric properties. The preferred sintering condition was found. Microstructural and compositional analyses of these low-temperature sintered ceramics were carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).