Boosting the piezoelectric property of relaxor ferroelectric single crystal via active manipulation of defect dipole polarization

To further enhance the property of piezoelectric materials is of great significance to improve the overall performance of electro-mechanical devices. Here in this work, we propose a thermal annealing and high temperature poling approach to achieve significantly enhanced piezoelectricity in Pb(In_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃—Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃—PbTiO₃ (PIN-PMN-PT) crystals with a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) composition. The main idea of our approach is to realize a more sufficiently polarized crystal via active manipulation of defects and orientation of defect polarization. Manipulation of defect dipoles by the high temperature poling is proved by the piezo-response force microscopy. Finally, a d₃₃ of 3300 pC/N and a S_E of 0.25% are obtained, nearly 60% higher than that of conventionally poled crystals. Moreover, such a boosting of piezoelectric property is obtained under a maintained Curie temperature. Our research not only reveals the active control of defect dipole via modified poling method in the PIN-PMN-PT crystal, but also provides a feasible strategy to further improve the property of piezoelectric materials.