Fe-Doped Barium Lanthanum Titanate as a Competitor to Other Lead-Free Piezoelectric Ceramics.

Multiferroic solid solutions of Ba 1-x La x Ti 1-x/4 O 3 and iron (BLFT) were synthesized using the conventional mixed oxide method. The dependence of the piezoelectric coefficients on Fe content in BLFT ceramics was determined by the quasi-static and resonance method. The results indicate that 0.3 mol% addition of Fe 3+ ions to the ceramic structure increased the value of the piezoelectric parameter d 33 to the maximum of 159 pC/N. This puts BLFT ceramics among other good-quality and lead-free piezoelectric ceramics. A major enhancement of dielectric properties related to the manipulation of Fe content in the barium lanthanum titanate (BLT) ceramics system is reported as well.