High-sensitivity piezoelectric response enabled by heterogeneous stress–electric field distribution in 3D interconnected porous ceramics

Porous piezoceramics are attractive for high-sensitivity sensing and energy conversion due to their low density, reduced dielectric constant (ε_r), and good mechanical compliance. However, increasing porosity is often accompanied by a significant reduction in the piezoelectric charge coefficient (d₃₃), creating an intrinsic trade-off that limits the practical use of porous structures in high-sensitivity piezoelectric devices and leaves their overall performance advantages under debate. In this work, we overcome this challenge by developing a fully open-cell, three-dimensionally interconnected Pb(Zr_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃–Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–Pb(Ni_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃ (PZT–PZN–PNN, PZNNT) porous piezoceramic (3D-PPC). Despite an ultrahigh porosity of 92%, the material maintains a high d₃₃ of approximately 470 pC/N, approximately 90% of that of the dense ceramic. The effective ε_r is reduced to approximately 140 (a 94% decrease), leading to an approximately 14-fold enhancement in the piezoelectric voltage coefficient g₃₃ (approximately 380×10⁻³ Vm/N). Combined microstructural characterization, domain analysis, defect studies, and multiphysics simulations show that the exceptional performance arises from synergistic effects of heterogeneous stress and electric fields, multiscale domain structures, and defect-mediated regulation within the three-dimensionally interconnected porous architecture. Finally, the material generates peak output voltages up to 200 V under subtle mechanical excitation and achieves an ultrahigh sensitivity of 38.7 V/kPa. These results show that three-dimensionally interconnected porous architectures are not merely passive means of reducing dielectric permittivity but also active structural strategies for tuning local fields and polarization behavior.