Giant electrostrain coefficient under low driving electric field in sodium potassium niobate piezoelectric ceramics with symmetrical bipolar strain

Fuzhi Cao; Zhenyong Cen; Ze Xu; Xin Zhang; Xiaoming Shi; Houbing Huang; Zhaobo Liu; Yi Xuan Liu; Xianxian Cai; Dongze Zhu; Ke Wang; Zhongshang Dou; Chaofeng Wu; Nengneng Luo

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5

Giant electrostrain coefficient under low driving electric field in sodium potassium niobate piezoelectric ceramics with symmetrical bipolar strain

Fuzhi Cao
, Zhenyong Cen^*
, Ze Xu
, Xin Zhang
, Xiaoming Shi^*
, Houbing Huang
, Zhaobo Liu
, Yi Xuan Liu
, Xianxian Cai
, Dongze Zhu
, Ke Wang
, Zhongshang Dou
, Chaofeng Wu^*
, Nengneng Luo^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Currently, achieving highly symmetrical bipolar strain and high electrostrain under low driving electric field remains challenging in piezoelectric materials. The designed potassium sodium niobate-based ceramics exhibit highly symmetrical bipolar strain and ultrahigh electrostrain coefficient (~2000 pm/V) under a low driving electric field of 8.4 kV/cm through A-site defect engineering and charge compensation. The highly symmetrical bipolar strain is related strongly to the lowly aligned defect dipoles by partially substituting A-site (Na⁺/K⁺) ions with Mn²⁺. The eye-catching performance is ascribed to the unique microstructure of atomic-scale polar nanoregions embedded in nano-domains (~34 nm) by tuning Na⁺/K⁺ ions deficiency and coexistence of multiple phases. Phase-field simulations reveal that flattened energy barrier and multiphase nanodomains interplay to boost electrostrain at low driving fields. This work provides an innovative way of designing lead-free piezoelectric materials with highly symmetrical bipolar strain and giant electrostrain coefficient at low driving electric field, promising for high-precision actuators applications.

Original language	English
Article number	10527
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5
Publication status	Published - Dec 2025
Externally published	Yes

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5

Cite this

Cao, F., Cen, Z., Xu, Z., Zhang, X., Shi, X., Huang, H., Liu, Z., Liu, Y. X., Cai, X., Zhu, D., Wang, K., Dou, Z., Wu, C., & Luo, N. (2025). Giant electrostrain coefficient under low driving electric field in sodium potassium niobate piezoelectric ceramics with symmetrical bipolar strain. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 10527. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5

@article{6e84d94c982a4f20865758b9f44cc64d,

title = "Giant electrostrain coefficient under low driving electric field in sodium potassium niobate piezoelectric ceramics with symmetrical bipolar strain",

abstract = "Currently, achieving highly symmetrical bipolar strain and high electrostrain under low driving electric field remains challenging in piezoelectric materials. The designed potassium sodium niobate-based ceramics exhibit highly symmetrical bipolar strain and ultrahigh electrostrain coefficient (\textasciitilde{}2000 pm/V) under a low driving electric field of 8.4 kV/cm through A-site defect engineering and charge compensation. The highly symmetrical bipolar strain is related strongly to the lowly aligned defect dipoles by partially substituting A-site (Na+/K+) ions with Mn2+. The eye-catching performance is ascribed to the unique microstructure of atomic-scale polar nanoregions embedded in nano-domains (\textasciitilde{}34 nm) by tuning Na+/K+ ions deficiency and coexistence of multiple phases. Phase-field simulations reveal that flattened energy barrier and multiphase nanodomains interplay to boost electrostrain at low driving fields. This work provides an innovative way of designing lead-free piezoelectric materials with highly symmetrical bipolar strain and giant electrostrain coefficient at low driving electric field, promising for high-precision actuators applications.",

author = "Fuzhi Cao and Zhenyong Cen and Ze Xu and Xin Zhang and Xiaoming Shi and Houbing Huang and Zhaobo Liu and Liu, \{Yi Xuan\} and Xianxian Cai and Dongze Zhu and Ke Wang and Zhongshang Dou and Chaofeng Wu and Nengneng Luo",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Giant electrostrain coefficient under low driving electric field in sodium potassium niobate piezoelectric ceramics with symmetrical bipolar strain

AU - Cao, Fuzhi

AU - Cen, Zhenyong

AU - Xu, Ze

AU - Zhang, Xin

AU - Shi, Xiaoming

AU - Huang, Houbing

AU - Liu, Zhaobo

AU - Liu, Yi Xuan

AU - Cai, Xianxian

AU - Zhu, Dongze

AU - Wang, Ke

AU - Dou, Zhongshang

AU - Wu, Chaofeng

AU - Luo, Nengneng

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - Currently, achieving highly symmetrical bipolar strain and high electrostrain under low driving electric field remains challenging in piezoelectric materials. The designed potassium sodium niobate-based ceramics exhibit highly symmetrical bipolar strain and ultrahigh electrostrain coefficient (~2000 pm/V) under a low driving electric field of 8.4 kV/cm through A-site defect engineering and charge compensation. The highly symmetrical bipolar strain is related strongly to the lowly aligned defect dipoles by partially substituting A-site (Na+/K+) ions with Mn2+. The eye-catching performance is ascribed to the unique microstructure of atomic-scale polar nanoregions embedded in nano-domains (~34 nm) by tuning Na+/K+ ions deficiency and coexistence of multiple phases. Phase-field simulations reveal that flattened energy barrier and multiphase nanodomains interplay to boost electrostrain at low driving fields. This work provides an innovative way of designing lead-free piezoelectric materials with highly symmetrical bipolar strain and giant electrostrain coefficient at low driving electric field, promising for high-precision actuators applications.

AB - Currently, achieving highly symmetrical bipolar strain and high electrostrain under low driving electric field remains challenging in piezoelectric materials. The designed potassium sodium niobate-based ceramics exhibit highly symmetrical bipolar strain and ultrahigh electrostrain coefficient (~2000 pm/V) under a low driving electric field of 8.4 kV/cm through A-site defect engineering and charge compensation. The highly symmetrical bipolar strain is related strongly to the lowly aligned defect dipoles by partially substituting A-site (Na+/K+) ions with Mn2+. The eye-catching performance is ascribed to the unique microstructure of atomic-scale polar nanoregions embedded in nano-domains (~34 nm) by tuning Na+/K+ ions deficiency and coexistence of multiple phases. Phase-field simulations reveal that flattened energy barrier and multiphase nanodomains interplay to boost electrostrain at low driving fields. This work provides an innovative way of designing lead-free piezoelectric materials with highly symmetrical bipolar strain and giant electrostrain coefficient at low driving electric field, promising for high-precision actuators applications.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105023103966

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5

DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-65521-5

M3 - Article

C2 - 41298389

AN - SCOPUS:105023103966

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 16

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 10527

ER -

Giant electrostrain coefficient under low driving electric field in sodium potassium niobate piezoelectric ceramics with symmetrical bipolar strain

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this