RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Local Piezoelectric Behavior of Potassium Sodium Niobate Prepared by a Facile Synthesis via Water Soluble Precursors A1 Senes, Nina . A1 Iacomini, Antonio . A1 Domingo, Neus . A1 Enzo, Stefano A1 Mulas, Gabriele A1 Cuesta López, Santiago A1 Garroni, Sebastiano K1 modified‐pechini method K1 ead-free piezoceramics K1 piezoresponse forcemicroscop K1 potassium sodium niobate K1 X-ray diffraction K1 Física K1 Physics AB Due to the ever‐increasing restrictions connected to the use of toxic lead‐based materials, the developing of lead‐free piezoceramics has become one of the most urgent tasks. In this context, potassium sodium niobate materials (KNN) have attracted a lot of interest as promising candidates due to their excellent piezo properties. For this reason, many efforts have been addressed to optimize the synthesis process now suffering by several drawbacks including the high volatilization of potassium and sodium at the conventional high temperature treatments and the use of expensive metal precursors. To overcome these issues, a new modified Pechini method to synthesize single phase K0.5Na0.5NbO3 powders, from water soluble metal precursors, is presented. Microstructural and structural parameters are characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD). Depending on the amount of citric acid added to the starting reagents, two pure single‐phase K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (2 g citric acid) and K0.3Na0.7NbO3 (0.2 g citric acid), respectively, are obtained with a good crystallinity at a moderate temperature of 500 °C. The piezo responses of the as calcined systems are tested by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). K0.5Na0.5NbO3 exhibits a much higher response with respect to the other phase, which relates to the larger crystallinity and to the chemical composition. PB Wiley SN 1862-6300 YR 2018 FD 2018-08 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/5056 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/5056 LA eng NO H2020-MSCA-IF-2015 grantnumber #70795. panishMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under projectFIS2015-73932-JIN. ICN2 acknowledges support from the Severo OchoaProgram (MINECO, Grant No. SEV-2013-0295 DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos RD 29-mar-2024