Sol–Gel Preparation of Lead Zirconate Titanate Powders and Ceramics: Effect of Alkoxide Stabilizers and Lead Precursors

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) (52/48) powders were prepared by a sol–gel process, using different raw materials to introduce the lead component together with several solvents and chemical modifying agents. A study of the effect of these variables on crystallization behavior was conducted to determine the best conditions for preparing monophasic submicrometer‐sized PZT perovskite powders in the morphotropic region. In the present work, well‐crystallized, submicrometer‐sized single‐phase perovskite PZT powders were obtained after heat treatment at 600°C for 1 h. The dependence of this crystallization temperature on the preparation conditions was observed. The sol–gel‐derived submicrometer‐sized PZT powders were sintered to ∼96% of relative density after 2 h at 950°–970°C. The sintered ceramics exhibited a dielectric permittivity of 1000, a piezoelectric coefficient of 135 pC·N −1 , a remanent polarization of 20 μC·cm −2 , and a coercive field of 10.6 kV·cm −1 .