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.