Fabrication and Characterization of the Piezoelectric Ceramic-Polymer Composites

The modified sol-gel method was used to synthesize lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles, and the lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles and polyvinylidene fluoride were used to prepare piezoelectric nano-ceramic-polymer composites with 0-3 connectivity type. The composites were successfully prepared by cold-pressing and curing-molding methods. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were adopted to characterize the microstructure of the obtained lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles and composites. The normal vibration modes of the lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the composites were analyzed in detail with respect to different volume fractions of the lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles. It demonstrated that the values of d(33) and epsilon increased with the increase in the content of lead zirconate titanate. The results here pointed to potential and simple methods to fabricate the lead zirconate titanate nanoparticles and the piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composites for piezoelectric applications.