Review: environmental friendly lead-free piezoelectric materials

Abstract

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based piezoelectric materials are well known for their excellent piezoelectric properties. However, considering the toxicity of lead and its compounds, there is a general awareness for the development of environmental friendly lead-free materials as evidenced from the legislation passed by the European Union in this effect. Several classes of materials are now being considered as potentially attractive alternatives to PZTs for specific applications. In this paper, attempts have been made to review the recent developments on lead-free piezo materials emphasizing on their preparation, structure-property correlation, etc. In this context, perovskite systems such as bismuth sodium titanate, alkali niobates (ANbO 3 ), etc. and non-perovskites such as bismuth layer-structured ferroelectrics are reviewed in detail. From the above study, it is concluded that some lead-free compositions show stable piezoelectric responses even though they do not match the overall performance of PZT. This has been the stimulant for growing research on this subject. This topic is of current interest to the researchers worldwide as evidenced from the large number of research publications. This has motivated us to come out with a review article with a view that it would give further impetus to the researchers already working in this area and also draw the attention of the others.

Electronic structure, ferroelectric properties, and phase stability of BiGaO3 under high pressure from first principles

“…In recent years, the Bi-based perovskites have attracted an increasing interest as a less-toxic alternative to the most widely used ferroelectric material, lead zirconate titanate [1,2]. The stereochemically active 6s 2 lone pair on the Pb 2? or Bi 3? ions is responsible for the large ion off-centering in Pb-and Bi-based perovskites and, as a result, the large ferroelectric polarization.…”

The effect of processing conditions on the morphology, thermomechanical, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties of P(VDF-TrFE)/BaTiO3 composites

“…Hence, most of the studies on piezoelectric ceramicpolymer composites with high-piezoelectric activity deal with PZT-based materials [7,12,13,[15][16][17]. However, for environmental and health concerns it is desirable to substitute PZT with a lead-free piezoelectric ceramic and BaTiO 3 may offer a convenient alternative [18]. Although the piezoelectric coefficient d 33 of conventional BaTiO 3 is lower than that of PZT, a large effort is lately taking place in fabricating high-performance BaTiO 3 [19].…”

High-sensitivity accelerometer composed of ultra-long vertically aligned barium titanate nanowire arrays

“…To improve the electromechanical coupling performance of the NW-based devices, ferroelectric perovskite nanostructures such as PZT (PbZr x Ti 1-x O 3 ) (refs 19-21) NWs have been explored; however, they have only been applied for energy harvesting applications. Moreover, environmental concerns over the use of lead-based piezoelectric materials have motivated the need to develop and utilize lead-free piezoelectric nanostructures for sensors 22 . Among the lead-free ceramics, barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) is the most studied and possesses one of the highest coupling values.…”