Preparation of porous lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric ceramics via vat photopolymerization combined with burnt polymer spheres technique

Porosity plays an important factor on the electric properties of piezoelectric ceramics. Here, we propose a promising method for the fabrication of Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric ceramics using vat photopolymerization, and effectively modulate porosity of printed PZT piezoceramics through adjusting the polystyrene (PS) content. After a post-process, the PZT piezoelectric ceramics showed single perovskite structure and porous microstructures formed by PS, with porosity ranging from 8.57 % to 27.02 %. With the increase of porosity, the piezoelectric strain constant (d33) and dielectric permittivity (epsilon r) decreased gradually due to the reduction in the volume fraction of PZT phase per unit volume. When the PS content was 20 vol%, d33 and epsilon r reached the maximum values. The sintered PZT piezoelectric ceramics exhibited excellent electrical properties (epsilon r=2364, d33=399 pC/N, g33=1.91x10- 2 Vm/N, d33g33=7.62x10- 12 m2/N and Kt=43.94 %). This work not only provides technical support for manufacturing advanced ceramics with tunable porosity through the use of PS powders, but also lays the foundation for preparing functional ceramics with complicated designed structures through vat photopolymerization technology.