State-of-the-art compact antennas rely on electromagnetic wave resonance, which leads to antenna sizes that are comparable to the electromagnetic wavelength. As a result, antennas typically have a size greater than one-tenth of the wavelength, and further miniaturization of antennas has been an open challenge for decades. Here we report on acoustically actuated nanomechanical magnetoelectric (ME) antennas with a suspended ferromagnetic/piezoelectric thin-film heterostructure. These ME antennas receive and transmit electromagnetic waves through the ME effect at their acoustic resonance frequencies. The bulk acoustic waves in ME antennas stimulate magnetization oscillations of the ferromagnetic thin film, which results in the radiation of electromagnetic waves. Vice versa, these antennas sense the magnetic fields of electromagnetic waves, giving a piezoelectric voltage output. The ME antennas (with sizes as small as one-thousandth of a wavelength) demonstrates 1–2 orders of magnitude miniaturization over state-of-the-art compact antennas without performance degradation. These ME antennas have potential implications for portable wireless communication systems.

The electrostrictive effect has some advantages over the piezoelectric effect, including temperature stability and hysteresis-free character. In the present work, we report the diffuse phase transitions and electrostrictive properties in lead-free Fe-doped 0.5Ba(ZrTi)O-0.5(BaCa)TiO (BZT-0.5BCT) ferroelectric ceramics. The doping concentration was set from 0.25 to 2 mol %. It is found that by introducing Fe ion into BZT-0.5BCT, the temperature corresponding to permittivity maximum T was shifted toward lower temperature monotonically by 37 °C per mol % Fe ion. Simultaneously, the phase transitions gradually changed from classical ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transitions into diffuse phase transitions with a weak relaxor characteristic. Purely electrostrictive responses with giant electrostrictive coefficient Q between 0.04 and 0.05 m/C are observed from 25 to 100 °C for the compositions doped with 1-2 mol % Fe ion. The Q of Fe-doped BZT-0.5BCT ceramics is almost twice the Q of other ferroelectric ceramics. These observations suggest that the present system can be considered as a potential lead-free material for the applications in electrostrictive area and that BT-based ferroelectric ceramics would have giant electrostrictive coefficient over other ferroelectric systems.

In this study, the electrostrictive effect in Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-x(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BZT-xBCT, x = 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6) ceramics was investigated to gain understanding of their high piezoelectric activity. The electrostrictive coefficient Q33 of the BZT-xBCT ceramics was observed to be around 0.04 m4/C2, twice that reported for Pb(Zr,Ti)O3-based ceramics. The Q33 was found to be quite stable with respect to temperature and composition for the BZT-xBCT ceramics. The addition of Fe3+ dopant to the ceramics greatly decreased their Curie temperature without affecting their Q33, which remained 0.04 m4/C2. Moreover, a high and hysteresis-free electric-field-induced strain was obtained for 2 at. % Fe-doped BZT-0.5BCT ceramics at room temperature, caused by their high Q33 coefficient and lower-than-room-temperature Curie temperature. The small-signal M33 coefficient of 2 at. % Fe-doped BZT-0.5BCT ceramics was found to be 1.5 × 10−16 m2/V2 (0.32 × 10−16 m2/V2 for undoped counterpart). These results indicate that 2 at. % Fe-doped BZT-0.5BCT ceramics have great potential as alternatives for hard Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics in actuator applications, where reproducible and non-hysteretic deformation responses are required.