Lead Zirconate Titanate Stable Stock Solution: Characterization and Applications

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films were prepared by the sol-gel process using acetic acid and 1,2-propanediol as solvents. Acetone was used as final solvent and in this way a stable stock sol (for more than 12 months) was obtained. The PZT sols prepared were reproducible and suitable for the preparation of PZT thin films. To study the sol structure evolution gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC-MS) and Fourier-transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectra were recorded and analyzed on each step of the synthesis. The rheological behavior and the stability of the stock sol were checked using a rheometer. It is observed that the addition of acetone leads to a very stable stock sol. The preliminary investigation of the electric properties of the obtained PZT thin films showed that the crystallized films deposited from a fresh prepared sol and a 12 months aged sol exhibit similar ferroelectric properties and comparable to those reported in the literature.     

Influence of plasma pressure on the growth characteristics and ferroelectric properties of sputter-deposited PZT thin films

PZT thin films of thickness (320-1040) nm were synthesized on Si/SiO₂/Ti/Pt multilayered substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The influence of plasma pressure in the range of (0.24-4.9) Pa, during deposition, on the structural, electrical and ferroelectric properties of the PZT films was systematically studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) were employed for structural study. Nano-probe Energy Dispersive (EDX) line scanning was employed to investigate the elemental distribution across the film-bottom electrode interface. I-V characteristics and polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop of the films were measured. The study reveals that the plasma pressure has a strong influence on the evolution and texture of the ferroelectric perovskite phase and microstructure of the films. At an optimum plasma pressure of 4.1 Pa, PZT films are grown with 93% perovskite phase with (1 1 1) preferred orientation and uniform granular microstructure. These films show a saturation polarization of 67 μC/cm², remnant polarization of 30 μC/cm² and coercive field of 28 kV/cm which, according to the literature, seem to be suitable for device applications.Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study shows that at a plasma pressure of 4.1 Pa, the PZT/bottom Pt interface is sharp and no amorphous interlayer is formed at the interface. At a higher plasma pressure of 4.9 Pa, poor I-V and P-E hysteresis loop are observed which are interpreted as due to an amorphous interlayer at the film-bottom electrode interface which is possibly enriched in Pb, Zr, O and Pt.     

High room-temperature pyroelectric response of MgO-modified Pb0.99(Zr0.95Ti0.05)0.98Nb0.02O3 ceramics

The dielectric and pyroelectric responses of MgO-modified Pb_0.99(Zr_0.95Ti_0.05)_0.98Nb_0.02O₃ ceramics were investigated near F_R(LT)–F_R(HT) phase transition. It was found that MgO additive reduced the F_R(LT)–F_R(HT) phase transition temperature from 41 °C to room temperature (24 °C). Superior room-temperature pyroelectric properties were obtained in the composition of 0.10 wt% MgO addition without DC bias. The largest pyroelectric coefficient, 65 × 10⁻⁸ C cm⁻² K⁻¹, was detected. Accordingly, the detectivity figures of merit F_d had maximum values of 20 × 10⁻⁵ Pa^−1/2, and especially the voltage responsivity F_v = 0.91 m²C⁻¹ is the highest value reported so far among all pyroelectric materials. It shows promising potential for application in uncooled pyroelectric infrared detector.     

Chemical Synthesis Studies on Pb Zr Alkoxides: A New Pb-Zr Structural Type,Pb3Zr7(μ4-O)4 (μ3-O)4(μ-O2CCH3) 8(μ-OiPr)6(Oi Pr)4

The compound [Pb₃Zr₇(₄-O)₄ (₃-O)₄(O₂CCH₃)₈ (OPrⁱ)₁₀] has been isolated from a reaction mixture containing known Pb-Zr and Pb-Ti complexes and characterised by ²⁰⁷Pb and ¹ H NMR and IR spectroscopy. The compound crystallises in the space group P with a = 13.778(4) Å, b = 21.916(5) Å, c = 27.768(10) Å; = 86.52(3)°, = 87.68(3)°, = 72.72(2)° V 7989(4) ų, Z = 4, R = 0.0973. A Pb-Zr alkoxide complex containing acetylacetone has also been synthesised using PbO as a reagent having the composition [Pb₂Zr₄(O)₂ (OⁱPr)₆(OⁿPr)₈ (acac)₂] allocated on the basis of MW, mass spectral and ¹H NMR data.     

Preparation of PZT Thick Films by an Interfacial Polymerization Method

Pb(Zr_0.53Ti_0.47)O₃ (PZT) films of 10 to 50 m in thickness were prepared by a new sol-gel process using an interfacial polymerization technique. The interfacial polymerization process is that an alkoxide precursor solution is poured on the surface of water in a container to form a gel film at the interface between the two immiscible liquids. The precursor solution was prepared by adding PZT alkoxide solution, PZT powders coated with Pb₅Ge₃O₁₁ (PG), and a surfactant into hexane solvent. After the polymerization at the interface, the gel films were gently placed on a silicon substrate by draining the water in the container. The gel films containing PZT powders were sintered at 950°C for 10 min to obtain crystallized PZT films. The remanent polarization of a PZT thick film was 33.1 C/cm². The piezoelectric d ₃₃ constant measured with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer was 225 pm/V and was independent of frequency from 0.2 to 3 kHz.     

斜入射冲击波加载下PZT95/5铁电陶瓷的放电特性研究

 研究了冲击波倾斜入射PZT95/5铁电陶瓷时的放电特性。结果表明,在小负载条件下,随着入射倾斜角的增加,PZT95/5铁电陶瓷放电电流波形前沿变缓,脉宽时间增加,波形从单脉冲方波演变成梯形波,甚至锐变成三角波。     

Development of Ferroelectric Aerogels

For ultrasonic applications in gases porous piezoelectric transducers with low acoustic impedances are required. Highly porous piezoceramics can be prepared by sol-gel processing, supercritical drying and subsequent firing. These PT and PZT aerogels are obtainable as crystalline monoliths with porosities up to 70 vol%. In this paper the influence of sol-gel-synthesis, stoichiometry, drying conditions and heat treatment on the material properties are reviewed.Lowering the coercive field strength by dopants is necessary in order to facilitate the polarization of highly porous PZT-ceramics. New results show that the introduction of 2 mol% neodymium is possible in the sol-gel synthesis of the aerogel precursor. Most structural properties of the resulting PbNd_0.02Zr_0.53Ti_0.47O₃ aerogels are similar to those of the undoped material.     

Dielectric Properties and Lattice Distortion in Rhombohedral Phase Region and Phase Coexistence Region of PZT Ceramics

In this paper, the relation between the dielectric properties and the lattice distortion in the phase coexistence region is discussed using a phase statistical distribution model, and in the rhombohedral phase region the two connection equations on the dielectric properties and the lattice distortion are established. Particularly, the relation between the dielectric properties and the lattice distortion is investigated in the phase coexistence region of PZT ceramics, and the fitting value of the volume fraction of the tetragonal phase V_T to composition x in the equation is determined. Further, the fitting results are well consistent with the related experimental data. It involves more profound physical process than relation between the dielectric properties and composition x.     

Phase transitions in Sr 0.61 Ba 0.39 Nb 2 O 6 :Ce 3+ : II. Linear birefringence studies of spontaneous and precursor polarization

The linear birefringence (LB) of Sr _0.61-x Ba _0.39 Nb ₂ O ₆ :Ce ³⁺ x (SBN61:Ce) has been measured as a function of temperature within the range of . Large tails have been observed above the ferroelectric phase transition temperatures T _c = 350, 328, 320 and 291 K for the concentrations x = 0, 0.0066, 0.0113 and 0.0207, respectively. Within an Ornstein-Zernike analysis the critical exponents , and are determined. It suggests that pure SBN61 belongs to the 3D Ising universality class. Doping with Ce ³⁺ ions, which seem to act as random fields, enhances the relaxor properties. The critical exponents and of SBN61:Ce shift against those of the three-dimensional random-field Ising model. Received 1 October 1999     

Phase transitions in Sr 0.61 Ba 0.39 Nb 2 O 6 :Ce 3+ : I. Susceptibility of clusters and domains

The complex dielectric susceptibility of Sr _0.61 Ba _0.39 Nb ₂ O ₆ :Ce ³⁺ (SBN61:Ce) has been measured at frequencies and temperatures before and after poling. The relaxor behaviour with large polydispersivity observed above the ferroelectric phase transition temperature, T _c = 360 and 340 K for x (Ce) = 0 and 0.0066, respectively, is perfectly modeled within the framework of Chamberlin's dynamically correlated domain approach. Below T _c the dynamic nanodomain state crosses over into a ferroelectric state with polydispersive domain wall dynamics at very low frequencies. Presumably SBN61:Ce belongs to the three-dimensional random field Ising rather than to the dipole glass universality class. Received 1 October 1999