High-precision BaTiO₃ piezoelectric ceramics via vat photopolymerization 3D printing

BaTiO₃ ceramics with high precision and superior performance are fabricated by vat photopolymerization 3D printing technology. The curing behaviors and photosensitive mechanisms are systematically investigated. Through the optimization of printing parameters, BaTiO₃ ceramics with a high relative density of 95 % and few defects are obtained. Notably, the sintered BaTiO₃ ceramics exhibit impressive properties, including a high piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ of 201 pC/N and strong ferroelectric characteristics with a maximum polarization P_max of 31.4 μC/cm² and residual polarization P_r of 18.5 μC/cm². More importantly, a series of complex BaTiO₃ structures including the body-centered cubic lattice and triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures are created perfectly with the feature size as fine as 75 μm. Compared with other reported BaTiO₃ structures printed by vat photopolymerization and material extrusion technologies, this work realizes a much higher printing resolution. The excellent performance and high precision of these BaTiO₃ ceramics make them great potential for practical applications in piezoelectric components. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd.