Improvement in material figure of merit of PLZT by samarium substitution

Abstract

The paper reports dielectric and pyroelectric properties of samarium substituted PLZT. The polycrystalline samples with chemical formula Pb0.925-xSmxLa0.075(Zr0.2Ti0.8)0.981O3 with x varying from 0 to 0.02 were prepared by conventional dry ceramic method. XRD analysis shows all the compositions to be single phase with tetragonal structure. Room temperature dielectric constant increases marginally with x while dielectric loss is found to decrease appreciably. Pyroelectric coefficient improves with x. The sample with x = 0.015 exhibited the maximum value of material figure of merit in this series of compositions.