Morphological evolution of plate-like B-site complex perovskite Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 microcrystals

Abstract

Crystallographic texturing of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics is an effective approach to achieve single crystal-like properties via templated grain growth method (TGG). The TGG process strongly depends on the use of anisotropic single crystal templates. In this work, novel B-site complex Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3(PZT) platelets are successfully fabricated via topochemical molten salt synthesis (TMSS). The Aurivillius phase of PbBi4Ti4O15(PBT) is obtained as precursor by molten salt method. Morphological evolution of Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 is investigated by varying the relative molar ratio of reactants and calcination temperature. However, the results of Raman spectroscopy show that the incorporation of Zr4+ content increases the instability of the perovskite structure. At 1100°C, it is possible to synthesize Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 plate-like microcrystal templates with high aspect ratios and preferential orientations. These well-shaped microcrystals are suggested as a potential template material for the TGG fabrication of lead-based piezoelectric textured ceramics.