Ultrahigh piezoelectric performances of (K,Na)NbO₃ based ceramics enabled by structural flexibility and grain orientation

(K,Na)NbO₃-based ceramics are deemed among the most promising lead-free piezoelectric materials, though their overall piezoelectric performance still lags behind the mainstream lead-containing counterparts. Here, we achieve an ultrahigh piezoelectric charge coefficient d₃₃ ∼ 807 pC·N⁻¹, along with a high longitudinal electromechanical coupling factor (k₃₃ ∼ 88%) and Curie temperature (T_c ∼ 245 °C) in the (K,Na)(Nb_1-xSb_x)O₃-Bi_0.5Na_0.5ZrO₃-BiFeO₃ (KNN-xSb) system through structural flexibility and grain orientation strategies. Phenomenological models, phase field simulations and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy reveal that the structural flexibility originates from the high Coulomb force between K⁺/Na⁺ ions and Sb ions in the KNN-xSb system, while the grain orientation promotes the displacement of B-site cations leveraging the engineered domain configuration. As a result of its excellent comprehensive piezoelectric properties, the textured KNN-5Sb/epoxy 1-3 piezoelectric composite is found to possess a broader bandwidth BW = 60% and higher amplitude output voltage than commercial PZT-5 and other KNN counterparts. These findings suggest that the textured KNN-5Sb ceramics could potentially replace current lead-based piezoceramics in transducer applications. © The Author(s) 2025.