BNKT Ceramics, one of the representative Pb free based piezoelectric ceramics, constitutes a perovskite(ABO3) structure. At this time, the perovskite structure (ABO3) is in the form where the corners of the octahedrons are connected, and in the unit cell, two ions, A and B, are cations, A ion is located at the body center, B ion is located at each corner, and an anion O is located at the center of each side. Since Bi, Na, and K sources constituting the A site are highly volatile at a sintering temperature of 1100℃ or higher, it is difficult to maintain uniformity of the composition. In order to solve this problem, there should be suppression of volatilization of the A site material or additional compensation of the volatilized. In this study, the basic composition of BNKT Ceramics was set to Bi0.5(Na0.78K0.22)0.5TiO3 (= BNKT), and volatile site (Bi, Na, and K sources) were coated in the form of a shell to compensate additionally for the A site ions. In addition, the physical and electrical properties of BNKT and its coated with shell additives(= @BNK) were compared and analyzed, respectively. As a result of analyzing the crystal structure through XRD, both BNKT(Core) and @BNK(Shell) had perovskite phases, and the crystallinity was almost similar. Although the Curie temperature of the two sintered bodies was almost the same (TC = 290 ~ 300 ℃), it was confirmed that the d33 (piezoelectric coefficient) and Pr (residual polarization) values were different. The experimental results indicated that the additional compensation for a shell additive causes the coarsening, resulting in a decrease in sintering density and Pr(remanent polarization). However, coating shell additives to compensate for A site ion is an effective way to suppress volatilization. Based on these experimental results, it would be the biggest advantage to develop an eco-friendly material (Lead-free) that replaced lead (Pb), which is harmful to the human body. This lead-free piezoelectric material can be applied to a biomedical device or products(ex. earphones (hearing aids), heart rate monitors, ultrasonic vibrators, etc.) and skin beauty improvement products (mask packs for whitening and wrinkle improvement).

K0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (KBT) thin films were prepared by sol-gel processing for future use in piezoelectric generators. It is believed that the annealing temperature of films plays an important role in the output performance of piezoelectric generators. KBT films prepared on Ni substrates were annealed at 500 ~ 700 oC. Tetragonal KBT films were formed after annealing process. As the annealing temperature increased, the grain size of KBT films increased. KBT thin films show piezoelectric constant (d33) from 23 to 41 pC/N. The increase of grain size in KBT films brought about output voltage and current in the KBT generators. Also, the increase in the displacement of specimens during bending test resulted in increases in output voltage and current. Although KBT generators showed lower output power than those of generators prepared using NBT films, as reported previously, the KBT films prepared by sol-gel method show applicability as piezoelectric thin films for lead-free nanogenerators, along with NBT films.

(Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3 (BNT)-based ceramics are considered promising candidates for actuator application owing to their excellent electromechanical strain properties However, to obtain large strain properties, there remain several issues such as thermal stability and high operating fields. Therefore, this study investigates a reduction of operating field in (0.98-x)Bi1/2Na1/ 2TiO3-0.02 BiAlO3-xSrTiO3 (BNT-2BA-100xST, x = 0.20, 0.21, 0.22, 0.23, and 0.24) via analyses of the microstructure, crystal structure, dielectric, polarization, ferroelectric and electromechanical strain properties. The average grain size of BNT-2BA- 100xST ceramics decreases with increasing ST content. Results of polarization and electromechanical strain properties indicate that a ferroelectric to relaxor state transition is induced by ST modification. As a consequence, a large electromechanical strain of 592 pm/V is obtained at a relatively low electric field of 4 kV/mm in 22 mol% ST-modified BNT-2BA ceramics. We believe that the materials synthesized in this study are promising candidates for actuator applications.

Lead free (Ba0.7Ca0.3) TiO3 thick films with nano-sized grains are prepared using an aerosol deposition (AD) method at room temperature. The crystallinity of the AD thick films is enhanced by a post annealing process. Contrary to the sharp phase transition of bulk ceramics that has been reported, AD films show broad phase transition behaviors due to the nanosized grains. The polarization-electric hysteresis loop of annealed AD film shows ferroelectric behaviors. With an increase in annealing temperature, the saturation polarization increases because of an increase in crystallinity. However, the remnant polarization and cohesive field are not affected by the annealing temperature. BCT AD thick films annealed at 700 ℃/2h have an energy density of 1.84 J/cm3 and a charge-discharge efficiency of 69.9%, which is much higher than those of bulk ceramic with the same composition. The higher energy storage properties are likely due to the increase in the breakdown field from a large number of grain boundaries of nano-sized grains.

Grain-growth behavior in the 95Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-5BaTiO3 (mole fraction, NBT-5BT) system has been investigated with the addition of Na2CO3. When Na2CO3 is added to NBT-5BT, the growth rate is higher than desired and grains are already impinging each other during the initial stage of sintering. The grain size decreases as the sintering temperature increases. With the addition of Na2CO3, a liquid phase infiltrates the interfaces between grains during sintering. The interface structure can be changed to be more faceted and the interface migration rate can increase due to fast material transport through the liquid phase. As the sintering temperature increases, the impingement of abnormal grains increases because the number of abnormal grains increases. Therefore, the average grain size of abnormal grains can be decreased as the temperature increases. The phenomenon can provide evidence that grain coarsening in NBT-5BT with addition of Na2CO3 is governed by the growth of facet planes, which would occur via mixed control.

Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) based ceramics are considered potential lead-free alternatives for Pb(Zr,Ti)O3(PZT) based ceramics in various applications such as sensors, actuators and transducers. However, BNT-based ceramics have lower electromechanical performance as compared with PZT based ceramics. Therefore, in this work, lead-free bulk 0.99[(Bi0.5Na0.5)0.935Ba0.065](1-x)LaxTiO3-0.01SrZO3 (BNBTLax-SZ, with x = 0, 0.01, 0.02) ceramics were synthesized by a conventional solid state reaction The crystal structure, dielectric response, degree of diffuseness and electric-field-induced strain properties were investigated as a function of different La concentrations. All samples were crystallized into a single phase perovskite structure. The temperature dependent dielectric response of La-modified BNBT-SZ ceramics showed lower dielectric response and improved field-induced strain response. The field induced strain increased from 0.17% for pure BNBT-SZ to 0.38 % for 1 mol.% La-modified BNBT-SZ ceramics at an applied electric field of 6 kV/mm. These results show that Lamodified BNBT-SZ ceramic system is expected to be a new candidate material for lead-free electronic devices.

New lead-free piezoelectric ceramics 0.96[{Bi0.5 (Na0.84 K0.16)0.5}1-xLax(Ti1-y Nby)O3]-0.04SrTiO3 (BNKT-ST-LN, where x = y = 0.00 ≤ (x = y) ≤ 0.015) were synthesized using the conventional solid-state reaction method. Their crystal structure, microstructure, and electrical properties were investigated as a function of the La and Nb (LN) content. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the formation of a single-phase perovskite structure for all the LN-modified BNKT-ST ceramics in this study. The temperature dependence of the dielectric curves showed that the maximum dielectric constant temperature (Tm) shifted towards lower temperatures and the curves became more diffuse with an increasing LN content. At the optimum composition (LN 0.005), a maximum value of remnant polarization (33 C/cm2) with a relatively low coercive field (22 kV/cm) and high piezoelectric constant (215 pC/N) was observed. These results indicate that the LN co-modified BNKT-ST ceramic system is a promising candidate for lead-free piezoelectric materials.

Studies on lead-free piezoelectrics have been attractive as means of meeting environmental requirements. We synthesized lead-free piezoelectric (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3-Ba(Cu1/3Nb2/3)O3 (BNT-BCN) ceramics, and their dielectric, piezoelectric, and strain behavior were characterized. As BCN with a tetragonal phase was incorporated into the rhombohedral BNT lattice, the lattice constant increased. A small amount of BCN increased the density and dielectric constant forming the complete solid solution with BNT. However, BCN above 10 mol% was precipitated into a separate phase, and which was detected with XRD. In addition, EDX measurement revealed that Cu in BCN was not distributed homogeneously but was accumulated in a certain area. A lower density with a large amount of BCN was attributed to the nonsinterable property of BCN with large tetragonaliy. The dielectric constant vs the temperature change and the strain vs the electric field indicated that the ferroelectric property of BNT was diminished and paraelectric behavior was enhanced with the BCN addition. BNT-7.5BCN showed a 0.11% unimorph strain with a 9.0 kV/mm electric field with little hysteresis.

The microstructure and positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTCR) characteristics of 0.1mol%Na2Ti6O13doped 0.94BaTiO3-0.06(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3 (BBNT-NT001) ceramics sintered at various temperatures from 1200oC to 1350oC wereinvestigated in order to develop eco-friendly PTCR thermistors with a high Curie temperature (TC). Resulting thermistors showeda perovskite structure with a tetragonal symmetry. When sintered at 1200oC, the specimen had a uniform microstructure withsmall grains. However, abnormally grown grains started to appear at 1250oC and a homogeneous microstructure with large grainswas exhibited when the sintering temperature reached 1325oC. When the temperature exceeded 1325oC, the grain growth wasinhibited due to the numerous nucleation sites generated at the extremely high temperature. It is considered that Na2Ti6O13 isresponsible for the grain growth of the 0.94BaTiO3-0.06(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3 ceramics by forming a liquid phase during the sinteringat around 1300oC. The grain growth of the BBNT-NT001 ceramics was significantly correlated with a decrease of resistivity.All the specimens were observed to have PTCR characteristics except for the sample sintered at 1200oC. The BBNT-NT001ceramics had significantly decreased ñrt and increased resistivity jump with increasing sintering temperature at from 1200oC to1325oC. Especially, the BBNT-NT001 ceramics sintered at 1325oC exhibited superior PTCR characteristics of low resistivityat room temperature (122Ω·cm), high resistivity jump (1.28×104), high resistivity temperature factor (20.4%/oC), and a highTc of 157.9oC.

In this study, we successfully synthesized a nano-sized lanthanum-modified lead-titanate (PLT) powder with a perovskite structure using a high-energy mechanochemical process (MCP). In addition, the sintering behavior of synthesized PLT nanopowder was investigated and the sintering temperature that can make the full dense PLT specimen decreased to below by using powder as sintering agent. The pure PLT phase of perovskite structure was formed after MCP was conducted for 4 h and the average size of the particles was approximately 20 nm. After sintered at 1050 and , the relative density of PLT was about 93.84 and 95.78%, respectively. The density of PLT increased with adding and the specimen with the relative densitiy over 96% were fabricated below when 2 wt% of was added.

Positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTCR) characteristics of (1-x)BaTiO3-x(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3ceramics doped with Nb2O5 were investigated in order to develop the Pb-free PTC thermistor available at hightemperatures of >120oC. The PTCR characteristics appearing in the (Bi0.5Ki0.5)TiO3 (<5mol%) incorporatedBaTiO3 ceramics, which might be mainly due to Bi+3 ions substituting for Ba+2 sites. The 0.99BaTiO3-0.01(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3 ceramics showed good PTCR characteristics of a low resistivity at room temperature (ρr) of31 Ω·cm, a high ρmax/ρmin ratio of 5.38×103, and a high resistivity temperature factor (α) of 17.8%/oC. Theaddition of Nb2O5 to 0.99BaTiO3-0.01(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3 ceramics further improved the PTCR characteristics.Especially, 0.025mol% Nb2O5 doped 0.99BaTiO3-0.01(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3 ceramics exhibited a significantly increasedρmax/ρmin ratio of 8.7×103 and a high α of 18.6%/oC, along with a high Tc of 148oC despite a slightly increasedρr of 39 Ω·cm.

The grain growth behavior of (NBT-5BT) has been investigated with respect to the grain shape. The powder compacts of NBT-5BT were sintered at 1200 for various times. The corresponding equilibrium shape was a round-edged cube with flat {100}-faces. Abnormal grains were not observed in the specimens sintered for 1 to 12 h but abnormal grains appeared when sintered for 24 h. Before the formation of abnormal grains, a valley was observed in the measured grain size distribution of NBT-5BT, showing that the grain size distribution was a combination of two unimodal distributions. The present result suggests that the grain growth in NBT-5BT was governed by the growth of facet planes which would occur via 2-dimansional nucleation and growth

고밀도 DRAM에서 박막 커패시터로의 적용을 위해 Zr이 첨가된 (Ba(sub)1-x, Sr(sub)x)TiO3<원문차조> 박막이 r.f. magnetron sputter-ing 법에 의해 제조되었다. 증착된 박막들은 다결정질 구조를 보였으며 증착압력이 감소함에따라 Zr/Ti의 비가 현저히 증가하였으며 본 연구에서는 얻어진 박막들은 100kHz에서 380∼525의 유전상수값을 나타냈다. 전압에 따른 커패시턴스와 분극량의 변화는 이력특성을 크게 보이지 않아 상유전상으로 형성되었음을 보였다. 누설전류밀도는 증착압력이 감소함에 따라 작아지는 경향을 보였고 10mTorr이상에서 증착된 박막의 경우 200kV/cm의 전계에서 10(sup)-7∼10(sup)-8A/cm2의 차수를 갖는 누설전류밀도를 보여 본 연구에서 제조된 (Ba(sub)1-x, Sr(sub)x)(Ti(sub)1-x, Zr(sub)x)O3<원문참조>박막은 고밀도 DRAm을 위한 커패시터에의 적용가능성을 보였다.