Large electrostrictive properties in lead-free BaTiO3–ZnSnO3 solid solutions

A new lead-free perovskite piezoelectric solid solution (1− x )BaTiO 3 – x ZnSnO 3 (BT– x ZS) was designed and fabricated using the traditional solid-state reaction method. The introduction of ZnSnO 3 was found to shift the high-temperature cubic phase of BaTiO 3 to lower temperatures. At room temperature large electrostrictive coefficient up to 0.0452 m 4 C −2 was obtained in BT–0.10ZS ceramic, which is much larger than the traditional electrostrictive material Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 and recently reported lead-free electrostrictive systems. The large electrostrictive response of BT– x ZS ceramics makes them quite potential to be applied to new solid-state actuators.