Sol–Gel Preparation of Lead Zirconate Titanate Powders and Ceramics: Effect of Alkoxide Stabilizers and Lead Precursors

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) (52/48) powders were prepared by a sol–gel process, using different raw materials to introduce the lead component together with several solvents and chemical modifying agents. A study of the effect of these variables on crystallization behavior was conducted to determine the best conditions for preparing monophasic submicrometer-sized PZT perovskite powders in the morphotropic region. In the present work, well-crystallized, submicrometer-sized single-phase perovskite PZT powders were obtained after heat treatment at 600°C for 1 h. The dependence of this crystallization temperature on the preparation conditions was observed. The sol–gel-derived submicrometer-sized PZT powders were sintered to ∼96% of relative density after 2 h at 950°–970°C. The sintered ceramics exhibited a dielectric permittivity of 1000, a piezoelectric coefficient of 135 pC·N⁻¹, a remanent polarization of 20 μC·cm⁻², and a coercive field of 10.6 kV·cm⁻¹.