| Summary: | In this study, (Pb<sub>0.92</sub>La<sub>0.08</sub>) (Zr<sub>0.60</sub>Ti<sub>0.40</sub>) O<sub>3</sub> (PLZT 8/60/40) ceramics were synthesized using a high-energy ball-milling technique followed by microwave sintering at different temperatures from 900 °C to 1200 °C. The optimal microwave sintering temperature for the PLZT 8/60/40 ceramics was found to be 1150 °C, which is relatively low compared with conventional sintering temperature. The sintered ceramics show the pure perovskite phase, uniform grain microstructure (1.2 µm) and high density (~99.5%). The polarization vs. electric field (<i>P-E</i>) hysteresis curves were used to investigate the ferroelectric and energy storage properties. The switching characteristic in <i>P-E</i> loops and occurrence of domain switching current in current vs. electric field (<i>I-E</i>) loops confirms their ferroelectric nature. The PLZT ceramics, which were sintered at 1150 °C, show the highest remnant polarization (<i>P<sub>r</sub></i>) of ~32.18 μC/cm<sup>2</sup> and domain switching current (<i>I<sub>max</sub></i>) of ~0.91 mA with a low coercive field (<i>E<sub>c</sub></i>) of ~10.17 kV/cm. The bipolar and unipolar strain vs. electric field (<i>S-E</i>) hysteresis loops were also measured and the highest unipolar strain was found to be ~0.26% for the PLZT ceramics sintered at 1150 °C. The unipolar <i>S-E</i> curves were used to derive the piezoelectric coefficient (<i>d<sub>33</sub></i>~495 pm/V) and a strain hysteresis loss (~5.8%).
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