Effect of Zr/Ti ratio on microstructure and electrical properties of pyroelectric ceramics for energy harvesting applications

In this paper, Pb[(MnxNb1-x)(1/2)(Mn(x)sb(1-x))(1/2)](y)(ZrzTi1-z)(1-y)O-3 (lead magnesium niobate-lead antimony manganese-lead zirconate titanate: PMnN-PMS-PZT) ceramics with three different Zi/Ti compositions of 95/5 (Zr95), 85/15 (Zr85) and (Zr85 + Zr95) were successfully fabricated and characterized. The effect of Zr/Ti ratio on the microstructure and electric properties were studied in detail. The pyroelectric coefficient of Zr95 ceramic was 5957 mu C/m(2)K which was more than 2-3 times higher than other reported pyroelectric ceramics. The effect on pyroelectric energy harvesting was systemically investigated via a variation of Zr/Ti compositions in the ceramics, which was directly evaluated by the output power acquired from the data acquisition system. The output power was 25.7 mu W, 4.8 mu W and 14.2 mu W at a composition ratio of Zr95, Zr85 and Zr85 + Zr95, respectively under identical conditions. Among the three Zi/Ti compositions, the best pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties were achieved with Zr95, which indicated that the pyroelectric energy harvesting can be efficiently optimized by the appropriate control of phase structure. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.