Abstract New experimental results on electron emission from PLZT ceramics of composition 2/95/5, subjected to rectangular high-voltage pulses are reported. The dependence of the emitted electron charge on the electric field strength and temperature was investigated. The energy of the emitted electrons was estimated by applying a decelerating potential to an auxiliary grid electrode. Emitted current densities of several A/cm2 and emitted charges up to ∼ 1 μC/cm2 (∼1013 electrons/cm2) were observed.