High-performance piezoelectrics benefit transducers and sensors in a variety of electromechanical applications.The materials with the highest piezoelectric chargecoefficients (d33) are relaxor-PbTiO3 crystals, which were discovered two decades ago. We successfully grew Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (Sm-PMN-PT) single crystals with even higher d33 values ranging from 3400 to 4100 picocoulombs per newton, with variation below 20%over the as-grown crystal boule, exhibiting good property uniformity. We characterized the Sm-PMN-PTon the atomic scale with scanning transmission electron microscopy and made first-principles calculations to determine that the giant piezoelectric properties arise fromthe enhanced local structural heterogeneity introduced by Sm3+ dopants. Rare-earth doping is thus identified as a general strategy for introducing local structural heterogeneity in order to enhance the piezoelectricity of relaxor ferroelectric crystals. 
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                            Giant piezoelectricity in oxide thin films with nanopillar structure
                        
                    
    
            High-performance piezoelectric materials are critical components for electromechanical sensors and actuators. For more than 60 years, the main strategy for obtaining large piezoelectric response has been to construct multiphase boundaries, where nanoscale domains with local structural and polar heterogeneity are formed, by tuning complex chemical compositions. We used a different strategy to emulate such local heterogeneity by forming nanopillar regions in perovskite oxide thin films. We obtained a giant effective piezoelectric coefficient d 33 , f * of ~1098 picometers per volt with a high Curie temperature of ~450°C. Our lead-free composition of sodium-deficient sodium niobate contains only three elements (Na, Nb, and O). The formation of local heterogeneity with nanopillars in the perovskite structure could be the basis for a general approach to designing and optimizing various functional materials. 
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                            - Award ID(s):
- 1744213
- PAR ID:
- 10288186
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science
- Volume:
- 369
- Issue:
- 6501
- ISSN:
- 0036-8075
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 292 to 297
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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