Crystallographic domain engineering of template grain growth derived ⟨111⟩ textured barium titanate ceramics for piezoelectric and dielectric improvement

The effect of BaTiO3 (BT) ceramics texturing along ⟨111⟩ on piezoelectric and dielectric properties was investigated. Strongly ⟨111⟩ textured BT ceramics were fabricated using template grain growth technique with plate-like ⟨111⟩ templates. The influence of template content and sintering conditions on texture development was systematically examined. An optimized composition with 5 mol% template, sintered at 1300°C for 5 h, achieved a high Lotgering factor (LF) of 95% and a relative density ≥ 95%. The dielectric constant (εr) increased with the degree of texturing, reaching 3260 at an LF of 95%. Similarly, the piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) increased with LF, reaching 227 pC/N after poling at 3 kV/mm for 10 minutes. This enhancement with increasing LF is attributed to crystallographic domain engineering induced by ⟨111⟩ texturing, which enables spontaneous polarization switching along three equivalent ⟨001⟩ directions under an applied electric field, thereby enhancing the piezoelectric and dielectric properties.