Effect of Processing Parameters on Ferroelectric Properties of 0.5(Ba,Ca)TiO3-0.5Ba(Zr,Ti)O3:Bulk, Thin Films and Fibers

We studied the effect of processing conditions on ferroelectric properties of lead-free ferroelectric composition Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.9Zr0.1O3 (BCTZO) having high piezoelectric properties. BCTZO samples were fabricated successfully by conventional solid state (bulk), sol-gel chemical solution deposition (film) and laser floating zone (LFZ, fiber crystals) methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated the formation of single-phase for bulk, fiber and thin film samples. We observed soft ferroelectric nature with a remanent polarization of 10.5 mu C/cm(2) for fibers with 5mm/h, comparable to the reports on bulk. The observation of piezoresponse hysteresis for bulk, film and fibers confirmed the switchable ferroelectric nature at nanoscale. Our studies demonstrated that by controlling the growth rate, ferroelectric properties of fibers by LFZ can be tailored.