Preparation of ferroelectric lead titanate ceramics by a modified sol-gel method

The usual sol-gel method for the preparation of nanocrystalline lead titanate has been improved in this research. The hydrolytic process of lead acetate [Pb(Ac)(2)] and titanium butoxide [Ti(O(CH(2))(3)CH(3))(4)] sol precursor was promoted by the addition of methyl alcohol (CH(3)OH) solution containing a certain amount of water. The fresh gel was directly sintered to transform the gel into PbTiO(3) polycrystals, which were quite easily ground into fine powders for ceramics pellets. The modified sol-gel method has reduced the preparation period from a few days to several hours. X-ray diffraction and electrical measurements have indicated that the PbTiO(3) thus obtained exhibits the same structure as that derived from ordinary sol-gel method and shows excellent dielectric and ferroelectric properties.