@article{Feng2026, 
author = {Xiaoying Feng and Jie Xu and Kena Zhang and Chenhe Xia and Xin Gao and Mupeng Zheng and Yudong Hou and Feng Gao and Shujun Zhang},
title = {High-sensitivity piezoelectric response enabled by heterogeneous stress–electric field distribution in 3D interconnected porous ceramics},
year = {2026},
journal = {Journal of Advanced Ceramics},
volume = {15},
number = {5},
pages = {9221280},
keywords = {sensitivity, porous piezoceramic, three-dimensional connectivity, heterogeneous stress–electric field distribution},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/JAC.2026.9221280},
doi = {10.26599/JAC.2026.9221280},
abstract = {Porous piezoceramics are attractive for high-sensitivity sensing and energy conversion due to their low density, reduced dielectric constant (εr), 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(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3–Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)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 εr 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.}
}