Effect of synthesis parameters on nanocrystalline PZT powder

Nanostructured lead zirconate titanate (PZT, 52/48) was synthesized using two different methods. 1) sucrose as a chelating agent and template material and 2) citrate nitrate autocombustion route. Effect of two different synthetic routes on morphology and properties of PZT nanocrystalline materials were studied. Both sucrose and citric acid was used as chelating agent as well as fuel for the reaction. The oxidative cleavage of these two compounds and their chelated complex gives exothermic reactions, which increase the temperature of the system in micro level and helps in the formation of a phase-pure PZT. Synthesized nanopowders were characterized using XRD, DSC/TGA, BET surface area analysis and TEM. XRD data showed that phase pure PZT nanopowders could be synthesized at temperature below 500 degreesC, which was confirmed by the DSC and TGA analysis. TEM analysis showed that increasing amount of sucrose and citric acid forms mesoporous PZT nanopowder with the particle size in the range of 80 +/- 20 mm. Sintering studies using uniaxially compressed discs showed that the synthesized PZT nanopowders could be densified at a lower temperature compared to the commercial PZT powders. Comparative studies on densification behavior of PZT compacts made with two different synthetic routes showed that PZT nanopowders with mesoporosity gives poor densification compared to the less agglomerated PZT nanopowder, which can be attributed to lower green density in the former case. The dielectric constant, d(33) and k(t) values were measured and compared as well. It was observed that there was no significant difference in properties of PZT synthesized by these two different methods.