Growth, structural phase transition and ferroelectric properties of Pb[(Zn1/3Nb2/3)0.91 Ti0.09]O3 single crystals

Growth of PZNT (91/9) single crystals at morphotropic phase boundary has been carried out by flux and flux Bridgman methods. Effects of multinucleation on morphology and effect of PbO evaporation on crystal growth are discussed. The grown crystals were cut along (0 0 1) direction and crystals were poled at the rate of 1 kV/mm. The slow scan X-ray diffraction results of the oriented crystals show a structural phase transition on poling. The phase transition has been studied with slow scan X-ray diffraction pattern for powdered Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (PZN-PT) crystal and (0 0 1) oriented single crystal which shows the existence of stressed phases and trapped phases in both cases. Further the grown PZN-PT single crystals have been subjected to compositional studies. Electrical characterizations such as hysteresis measurement, strain measurement and piezoelectric measurement were carried out and the results are discussed in detail.