Growth and characterizations of lead-free ferroelectric KNN-based crystals
Résumé
We have grown by flux method centimeter-sized single crystals from pseudo-hexanary Li2O–Na2O–K2O–Nb2O5–Ta2O5–Sb2O3 system. Based on chemical analysis, crystals of compositions (Li0.023Na0.583K0.394)(Nb0.925Ta0.037Sb0.038)O3 and (Li0.034Na0.609K0.357)(Nb0.896Ta0.047Sb0.057)O3 were characterized by X-rays diffraction which revealed a tetragonal structure. The dielectric analysis confirmed that the ferroelectric behavior of these crystals is very sensitive to little changes in composition as previously observed on ceramics. Such high flexibility of the ferroelectric properties in crystals opens the way towards improved understanding of the relations between structure and polarization in solid solutions which may be an alternative to the lead-based materials.