Photostriction of Sol-Gel Processed PLZT Ceramics

• Published in: Journal of electroceramics 1997-01, Vol.1 (1), p.105-111
• Main Authors: Dogan, A, Prasadarao, A V, Uchino, K, Poosanaas, Patcharin, Komarneni, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ceramics; Density; Grain growth; Oxides; Photovoltaic cells; Sol gel process; Solar cells; Tungsten oxides; Zirconium titanates
• ISSN: 1385-3449; 1573-8663
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1009906600737

Lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate (PLZT) ceramic materials have gained considerable attention due to their photostriction, which is the superposition of photovoltaic and piezoelectric effects. However, the photovoltaic effect and the induced strain response are also influenced by the fabrication and processing conditions. The PLZT ceramics produced by conventional oxide mixing process exhibit moderate photostrictive properties due to the inhomogeneous distribution of impurities. In this study, ceramics of PLZT (3/52/48) doped with WO^sub 3^ and Nb^sub 2^O^sub 5^ were prepared by sol-gel technique using lead(II) acetate trihydrate, lanthanum(III) acetylacetonate hydrate, Zr, Ti, Nb, and W alkoxides. It was found that WO^sub 3^ and Nb^sub 2^O^sub 5^ were effective in suppressing the grain growth of PLZT, which lead to the enhancement of photovoltaic and photostrictive properties. Photovoltaic and photostrictive responses show ed a maximum for samples with 0.5 at% WO^sub 3^ doped sol-gel PLZT. It has been shown that the sol-gel derived PLZT ceramics with proper density possess the possibility of enhancing the photostriction over ceramics produced by conventional oxide mixing process.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]