Low-temperature sol-gel preparation of single-phase PbZrO3 ceramics

Antiferroelectrics have recently captured widespread attention for their potential applications in energy storage capacitors, electronic and electrothermal devices. PbZrO3, being the first antiferroelectric discovered, remains the focus of antiferroelectric studies. Conventionally, the PbZrO3 ceramics were prepared via a high-temperature solid-state reaction method (higher than 1000(degree celsius)). Here, we report a simple sol-gel route to prepare single-phase PbZrO3 ceramic at a much lower calcination temperature of 600(degrees)C. By using the single-phase PbZrO3 ceramics, thin films with outstanding antiferroelectric property showing well-defined double-hysteresis polarization switching were further obtained by pulsed laser deposition.