Seeding effects on crystallization and microstructure of sol-gel derived PZT fibers

Dense and fine micro-structured lead zirconate titanate (PZT) fibers were successfully fabricated by sol-gel process from lead acetate dehydrate, zirconium normal butoxide, and titanium isopropoxide. An addition of perovskite seed particles (2 wt%) can lower the formation temperature of the perovskite phase and a single-phase perovskite PZT fiber can be obtained by heat-treating the precursor fiber at 500°C. Crystallization of perovskite phase was improved with the seed content. The diffraction peaks of (200) and (002) in the PZT fiber with 6 wt% seed was better split than in the PZT fiber without seed, which indicates that the tetragonality of PZT fiber was increased by adding seed particles. Seed particles also affected microstructure development of the PZT fibers.