The invention relates to a method for preparing a sol-gel solution which can be used to prepare a barium titanate ceramic doped with hafnium and/or with at least one lanthanide element, comprising the following steps: a) a step to place a first mixture comprising a barium carboxylate and a diol solvent in contact with a second mixture comprising a titanium alkoxide and a hafnium alkoxide and/or an alkoxide of a lanthanide element in a monoalcohol solvent; b) a step to distil the mixture resulting from step a) to remove at least part of the monoalcohol solvent; c) a step to add acetic acid, under heat, to the distilled mixture of step b).

A dielectric composition includes: a base material powder including (Ca.sub.1-xSr.sub.x) (Zr.sub.1-yTi.sub.y)O.sub.3 (0<x0.7, 0<y0.03); a first subcomponent including at least one selected from the group of an oxide of manganese (Mn) and a carbonate of manganese (Mn); a second subcomponent including at least one selected from the group of an oxide of yttrium (Y) and a carbonate of yttrium (Y), where a content of the second subcomponent is within a range from 2 to 3 mol, based on 100 mol of the base material powder; and a third subcomponent including at least one selected from the group of an oxide of silicon (Si) and a carbonate of silicon (Si), and an electronic component uses the same.

Embodiments of the invention can be directed to controlling and/or engineering the size and/or volume of polar nanoregions (PNRs) of ferroelectric polycrystalline material systems. Some embodiments can achieved this via composition modifications to cause changes in the PNRs and/or local structure. Some embodiments can be used to control and/or engineer dielectric, piezoelectric, and/or electromechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. Controlling and/or engineering the PNRs may facilitate improvements to the dielectric, piezoelectric, and/or electromechanical properties of materials. Controlling and/or engineering the PNRs may further facilitate generating a piezoelectric material that may be useful for many different piezoelectric applications.

A piezoelectric element includes a piezoelectric body having a main phase configured by lead zirconate titanate and a heterogenous phase configured by a different component to lead zirconate titanate, and a pair of electrodes provided on the piezoelectric body. The piezoelectric body has a surface region within 10 m of a surface, and an inner region more than 10 m from the surface. A surface area coverage of the heterogenous phase in a cross section of the surface region is at least 0.75% greater than a surface area coverage of the heterogenous phase in a cross section of the inner region.

Provided is a dielectric composition which includes, as a main component, a complex oxide represented by a general formula A.sub.aB.sub.bC.sub.4O.sub.15+ and having a tungsten bronze structure, wherein A includes at least Ba, B includes at least Zr, C includes at least Nb, a is 3.05 or higher, and b is 1.01 or higher. In the dielectric composition, when the total number of atoms occupying M2 sites in the tungsten bronze structure is set to 1, the proportion of B is 0.250 or higher. In addition, in the dielectric composition, an X-ray diffraction peak of a (410) plane of the tungsten bronze structure is splitted into two, and an integrated intensity ratio of an integrated intensity of a high-angle side peak of the X-ray diffraction peak with respect to an integrated intensity of a low-angle side peak of the X-ray diffraction peak is 0.125 or higher.

A piezoelectric material including a perovskite-type metal oxide represented by the following general formula (1); Bi; and Mn, wherein the content of Bi is 0.1-0.5 mol % with respect to 1 mol of the metal oxide, the content of Mn is 0.3-1.5 mol % with respect to 1 mol of the metal oxide, and the piezoelectric material satisfies (L.sub.4L.sub.5)/L.sub.50.05 and (L.sub.8L.sub.9)/L.sub.90.05 when the lengths of twelve BiO bonds with Bi that is located at a 12-fold site with respect to O in a perovskite-type unit cell as a starting point are taken to be L.sub.1 to L.sub.12 in length order:
(Ba.sub.1-xM1.sub.x)(Ti.sub.1-yM2.sub.y)O.sub.3(1)
wherein 0x0.2, 0y0.1, and M1 and M2 are mutually different metal elements which have a total valence of +6 and are selected from other elements than Ba, Ti, Bi and Mn.

The present disclosure relates to piezoelectric compositions of Formula I comprising Lead ZirconateLead Titanate solid solution. The disclosure further relates to a method of obtaining said composition, method of preparing/fabricating piezoelectric component(s) and piezoelectric component(s)/article(s) obtained thereof. The piezoelectric composition and articles of the present disclosure show excellent electromechanical characteristics along with very large insulation resistance (IR).

The present disclosure provides a ceramic sintered body having a favorable dielectric constant. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ceramic sintered body includes a semiconductor ceramic phase dispersed in a dielectric ceramic phase, wherein the semiconductor ceramic phase and the dielectric ceramic phase jointly form a percolative composite, and a volume fraction of the semiconductor ceramic phase is close to and less than a percolation threshold.

A composition for forming a Ce-doped PZT-based piezoelectric film contains: PZT-based precursors containing metal atoms configuring the composite metal oxides; a diol; and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The PZT-based precursors are contained so that a metal atom ratio (Pb:Ce:Zr:Ti) in the composition satisfies (1.00 to 1.28):(0.005 to 0.05):(0.40 to 0.55):(0.60 to 0.45) and the total of Zr and Ti in a metal atom ratio is 1. A concentration of the PZT-based precursor in 100 mass % of the composition is from 17 mass % to 35 mass % in terms of an oxide concentration, a rate of diol in 100 mass % of the composition is from 16 mass % to 56 mass %, and a molar ratio of polyvinylpyrrolidone to 1 mole of the PZT-based precursor is 0.01 moles to 0.25 moles in terms of monomers.

Embodiments of the invention can be directed to controlling and/or engineering the size and/or volume of polar nanoregions (PNRs) of ferroelectric polycrystalline material systems. Some embodiments can achieved this via composition modifications to cause changes in the PNRs and/or local structure. Some embodiments can be used to control and/or engineer dielectric, piezoelectric, and/or electromechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. Controlling and/or engineering the PNRs may facilitate improvements to the dielectric, piezoelectric, and/or electromechanical properties of materials. Controlling and/or engineering the PNRs may further facilitate generating a piezoelectric material that may be useful for many different piezoelectric applications.