Pyroelectric materials lead zirconate titanate

A wide array of ferroelectric, piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials have titanium, zirconium and zinc metal cations as part of their elemental composition Many electrical materials based on titanium oxide (titanates) and zirconium oxide (zirconates) are known to have structures based on perovskite-type oxide lattices Barium titanate, BaTiOs and a diverse compositional range of PZT materials (lead zirconate titanates, Pb Zr Tij-yOs) and PLZT materials (lead lanthanum zirconate titanates, PbxLai-xZryTii-yOs) are among these perovskite-type electrical materials. 

As concerns the piezoelectric layer, the first choice often goes to lead zirconate titanate (PZT) because of its outstanding piezoelectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties. Nickel ferrite (NF) is not widely employed for the synthesis of the multilayered composites owing to a strong reduction of its magnetization in the lower grain size limit. However, a very thin NF layer can help to attain entirely different properties and, hence, this material has been chosen as a sandwiched layer in the present work. 

The principal materials used for pyroelectric detectors are members of the TGS group, lithium tantalate, strontium barium niobate, ceramics members of the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) group and, more recently, films of the polymers polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVFj). 

Pyroelectric materials are an active material in pyroelectric detectors (Norkus et al. 2006 Budzier and Gerlach 2011). Parameters of these materials are listed in Table 14.18. The three most connmonly used pyroelectric materials in such detectors are triglycine sulfate (TGS), lithium tantalate, and ceramic material based on lead zirconate (PZ), including lead zirconate titanate (PZT) (Porte 1987 Izyumskaya et al. 2007). 

Piezoelectricity links the fields of electricity and acoustics. Piezoelectric materials are key components in acoustic transducers such as microphones, loudspeakers, transmitters, burglar alarms and submarine detectors. The Curie brothers [7] in 1880 first observed the phenomenon in quartz crystals. Langevin [8] in 1916 first reported the application of piezoelectrics to acoustics. He used piezoelectric quartz crystals in an ultrasonic sending and detection system - a forerunner to present day sonar systems. Subsequently, other materials with piezoelectric properties were discovered. These included the crystal Rochelle salt [9], the ceramics lead barium titanate/zirconate (pzt) and barium titanate [10] and the polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride) [11]. Other polymers such as nylon 11 [12], poly(vinyl chloride) [13] and poly (vinyl fluoride) [14] exhibit piezoelectric behavior, but to a much smaller extent. Strain constants characterize the piezoelectric response. These relate a vector quantity, the electrical field, to a tensor quantity, the mechanical stress (or strain). In this convention, the film orientation direction is denoted by 1, the width by 2 and the thickness by 3. Thus, the piezoelectric strain constant dl3 refers to a polymer film held in the orientation direction with the electrical field applied parallel to the thickness or 3 direction. The requirements for observing piezoelectricity in materials are a non-symmetric unit cell and a net dipole movement in the structure. There are 32-point groups, but only 30 of these have non-symmetric unit cells and are therefore capable of exhibiting piezoelectricity. Further, only 10 out of these twenty point groups exhibit both piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity. The piezoelectric strain constant, d, is related to the piezoelectric stress coefficient, g, by... 

Pyro-dad. Trade-name. A process for depositing multilayer coatings of metals and ceramics. (Aremco Products Inc. USA). Pyroelectric Materials. Pyroelectrics develop an observable spontaneous electric moment only when heated. Cf ferroelectrics. Pyroelectric ceramics include some niobate-zirconate systems, barium titanate modified with zirconia and hafnia, and lanthanum-modified lead... 

Until the late sixties the only known ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, and pyroelectrics were certain inorganic monocrystals, or polycrystalline ceramics like lead titanate zirconate perovskites. Other known materials with macroscopic polarization were electrets, (for example mixmres of beeswax and rosin) in which the polarization was produced by application of the electric field in the melted state and then by cooling and the solidification of the polarized material. 

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