Thermally and electrically induced ferroelectric transitions in NaNbO3 for lead-free piezoelectric composite applications

Dataset production context: This study demonstrates that NaNbO3 (NNO) particles, synthesized by hydrothermal methods, exhibit an AFE-FE phase transition that can be induced by either thermal annealing above 500 °C or electrical poling under fields > 75 kV/cm. The maximum piezoelectric coefficient of FE-phase particles embedded in PVA composite reaches 4.0 pC/N. The FE phase transition enables composite-based devices to achieve voltage outputs of up to 0.8 V in compression-mode tests and 0.3 V in bending-mode tests. The AFE-FE phase transition was confirmed by XRD analysis, performed both in-situ as a function of temperature, but also ex-situ on annealed samples and poled NNO/PVA composite materials. These results indicate that FE-stabilized NNO particles in polymer matrices offer a promising lead-free alternative for flexible piezoelectric applications. For more information see the article.