Preparation and Characterization of Small Sized PZT Powders: A Sol-Gel Modified Approach

A current research basically diverted towards an increase in the operational output with the minimization of the materials used, which ultimately scaled down the dimensions of ceramic electronic components. In this direction the nano-technology pave the revolutionary changes in particular the electronic industries. The applications of nano-sized particles or nano-sized materials are hence, playing a significant role for various purposes. The PZT(lead, zirconium, titanium) based ceramics which, are reported to be ferroelectric materials have their important applications in the areas of surface acoustic waves (SAW), filters, infrared detectors, actuators, ferroelectric random access memory, speakers, electronic switches etc. Moreover, these PZT materials possess the large electro mechanical coupling factor, large spontaneous polarization, low dielectric loss and low internal stress etc. Hence, keeping in view the unique properties of PZT piezoelectric ceramics we also tried to synthesize indigenously the small sized PZT ceramic powder in the laboratory by using the modified sol-gel approach. In this paper, propyl alcohol based sol-gel method was used for preparation of PZT piezoelectric ceramic. The powder obtained by this sol-gel process was calcined and sintering to reach a pyrochlore-free crystal phase. The characterization of synthesized material was carried out by the XRD analysis and the surface morphology was determined by high resolution scanning electron microscopy.