PbZr1−xTixO3by soft synthesis: Structural aspects

Abstract

The structural aspects of a soft synthetic route employed to obtain fine crystallite $\mathrm{Pb}{\mathrm{Zr}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Ti}}_{x}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ $(x=0,0.5,1)$ powders are revealed by total x-ray diffraction and atomic pair distribution function analysis. It is found that the atomic-scale structure of the intermediate, highly disordered phase the route passes through resembles but is not exactly of the targeted, perovskite-type structure. It is suggested that future synthesis efforts are directed toward closing the observed ``structure gap'' as much as possible.