Dielectric and piezoelectric properties of lead-free $(Na_{0.5}K_{0.5})NbO_3$-Ba(Ti, Sn)$O_3$ ceramics

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics 0.97$(Na_{0.5}K_{0.5})NbO_3$-0.03Ba$(Ti_{1-x}Sn_x)O_3$ [NKN-BTS-x] ceramics doped with 1 mol% $MnO_2$ have been fabricated by a sintering technique with muffling. The $MnO_2$-doped NKN-BTS-x ceramics with x$\leq$0.2 have pure orthorhombic perovskite structure at room temperature. The dense microstructure was developed with grain growth as an increase of amount of Sn. Moreover, the addition of Sn was found to have a significant influence on piezoelectric properties. In particular, the $MnO_2$-doped NKN-BTS-0.1 ceramics showed improved piezoelectric properties of piezoelectric constant ($d_{33}$=145pC/N), relatively large electromechanical coupling factor ($k_p$=43%), dielectic constant (${\varepsilon}^T_{33}/{\varepsilon}_0$=676) dielectric loss (tan$\delta$=1.3%).