Antiferroelectric Phase Transition in PbZrO_3 Nanoparticles

摘要

Freestanding crystalline PbZrO_3 nanoparticles with an average size of 15 nm were synthesized by the modified sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Dielectric studies indicated that the paraelectric to antiferroelectric phase transition in the PbZrO_3 nanoparticles was observed around at 205℃ which was at 233℃ for PbZrO_3 bulk material. A single leaky ferroelectric loop was observed instead of an antiferroelectric double hysteresis loop which may be because of the defects such as grain boundaries and the pores in the sample because the sample was not sintered at higher temperatures to retain the nanoscaie dimension of the PbZrO_3 particles.