Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol.233, No.3, 460-465, 2001
Growth of Ba(Ti1-xZrx)O-3 single crystals by the laser heated pedestal growth technique
Single crystals of the ferroelectric Ba(Ti1-xZrx)O-3 (x = 0.05 and 0.08) were grown by laser heated pedestal growth (LHPG) technique. The perovskite structure of the crystals was identified by the X-ray diffraction technique. Crystals were examined by Laue patterns and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which indicated that the single crystals were of good crystallinity and compositional homogeneity. The anisotropic dielectric and piezoelectric behavior was characterized. The Ba(Ti1-xZrx)O-3 single crystals possessed a high-level hysteresis-free electromechanical strain and are promising lead-free ferroelectric crystals for the piezoelectric transducer applications.
Keywords:characterization;laser heated pedestal growth;perovskites;dielectric materials;lead-free materials;piezoelectric materials