By a novel controlled combustion synthesis method, a large amount of ZnO nano-whiskers with different morphologies like nanotetrapods, long-leg nanotetrapod and multipods, were prepared without any catalysts and additives in open air at high temperature. Their morphologies, structures and optical properties were in-vestigated by using SEM, XRD and PL spectrum. The possible growth mechanisms on the ZnO nano-whiskers were proposed in this paper.
SHI XiaoLingCAO MaoShengZHAO YuNaSONG WeiLiRONG JiLi
This paper reports that the lead zirconate titanate （PZT） piezoelectric composites incorporating zinc oxide nanowhiskers （ZnOw） were prepared by the conventional solid state processing. The whisker-dispersed PZT composites （PZT/ZnOw） presented a significant enhancement in the mechanical properties such as Young＇s modulus, tensile strength and compressive strength. Especially, the compressive strength increased from 153 MPa for the PZT to 228 MPa for the PZT/ZnOw composites. The reinforcement mechanism in strength of the composites was discussed. The me- chanical quality factors of the PZT/ZnOw composites increased considerably, while the piezoelectric constants and electromechanical coupling coefficient decreased slightly. The composites with good electrical and excellent mechanical properties are promising for further applications.
A modified sol-gel method is used for synthesizing Nd ion doped lead zirconate titanate nanopowders Pb1-3x/2^NdxZr0.52Ti0.48O3 （PNZT） in an ethylene glycol system with zirconium nitrate as zirconium source. The results show that it is critical to add lead acetate after the reaction of zirconium nitrate with tetrabutyl titanate in the ethylene glycol system for preparing PNZT with an exact fraction of titanium content. It has been observed that the dopant of excess Nd ions can effectively improve the sintered densification and activity of the PNZT ceramics. Piezoelectric, dielectric and ferroelectric properties of the PNZT ceramics are remarkably enhanced as compared with those of monolithic lead zirconate titanate （PZT）. Especially, the supreme values of piezoelectric constant （d33） and dielectric constant （ε） for the PNZT are both about two times that of the monolithic PZT and moreover, the remnant polarization （Pr） also increases by 30%. According to the analysis of the structures and properties, we attribute the improvement in electrical properties to the lead vacancies caused by the doping of Nd ions.
Nd3+ doped lead zirconate titanate (Pb1-3x/2NdxZr0.52Ti0.48O3, PNZT) nanopowders were prepared through a modified sol-gel method. The effects of Nd3+ doping on the microstructures and properties of PNZT ceramics have been studies. The grain sizes of the perovskite PNZT nanopowders were about 100nm and the lattice distortion of the PNZT increased with the content of Nd3+ up to 9 mol%. The dopant of Nd3+ resulted in the decrease of crystal lattice parameter a and the obvious increase of c and c/a, which effectively improved the sintered densification and activity of the PNZT ceramics. Due to lead vacancies caused by the doping of Nd3+ in the PZT, the piezoelectric constant, electromechanical coupling coefficient and dielectric constant observed were much higher than the monolithic PZT.
This paper reports that dense and crack-free （100） oriented lead zirconate titanate （Pb（ Zr0. 52Ti0. 48 ）O3, PZT） thick film embedded with PZT nanopartieles has been successfully fabricated on Pt/Cr/SiO2/Si substrate by using PT transition layer and PVP additive. The thick film possesses single-phase perovskite structure and perfectly （100） oriented. The （100） orientation degree of the PZT films strongly depended on annealing time and for the 4μm-thick PZT film which was annealed at 700℃ for 5 min is the largest. The （100） orientation degree of the PZT thick film gradually strengthen along with the thickness of film decreasing. The 3μm-thick PZT thick film which was annealed at 700℃ for 5 rain has the strongest （100） orientation degree, which is 82. 3%.
