Hydrothermal synthesis of ultradisperse PZT powders for polar ceramics

Polar ceramics with high homogeneity, high sinterability and nanocrystalline structure can be obtained by hydrothermal procedures. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of the hydrothermal reaction conditions on the properties of a PZT powder synthesized from soluble salts of Pb (II), Ti (IV) and Zr (IV). Therefore carefully chemical quantitative analysis (ICP, DCP, AAS) and microstructural investigations (XRD, SEM/EDX, DSC and RAMAN) have been performed. Based on these results a mechanism for hydrothermal synthesis of PZT was proposed. The fundamental research represents a work in progress in the PZT thick films synthesis by hydrothermal/electrochemical procedures. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.