Lead zirconate titanate ceramics with aligned crystallite grains

Abstract

The piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate [Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ or PZT] ceramics could be enhanced by fabricating textured ceramics that would align the crystal grains along specific orientations. We present a seed-passivated texturing process to fabricate textured PZT ceramics by using newly developed Ba(Zr,Ti)O₃ microplatelet templates. This process not only ensures the template-induced grain growth in titanium-rich PZT layers but also facilitates desired composition through interlayer diffusion of zirconium and titanium. We successfully prepared textured PZT ceramics with outstanding properties, including Curie temperatures of 360°C, piezoelectric coefficients <i>d</i>₃₃ of 760 picocoulombs per newton and <i>g</i>₃₃ of 100 millivolt meters per newton, and electromechanical couplings <i>k</i>₃₃ of 0.85. This study addresses the challenge of fabricating textured rhombohedral PZT ceramics by suppressing the otherwise severe chemical reaction between PZT powder and titanate templates.