Enhancement of pyroelectric properties of composite thick films using Mn-doped PZT

• The addition of Mn can reduce the relative permittivity of PZT filler.
• The polarization state of ceramic phase was improved by Mn doping.
• The pyroelectric coefficient of the 2 mol% Mn doped composite was 113 μC/m2 K.
• The detectivity figure of merit of the 2 mol% Mn doped composite was 1.77 × 10−5 Pa−1/2.

The effects of manganese (Mn) doping content in lead zirconate titanate (PZT) on PZT/polyvinylidene-trifluorethylene copolymer (P(VDF-TrFE)) composite thick films have been studied in this paper. Various Mn doped Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)1−xMnxO3 (PZTMx, x = 0, 1, 2, 3 mol%) were mixed with P(VDF-TrFE) and coated on indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates to fabricate the PZT/P(VDF-TrFE) composite films. The microstructures of PZTMx particles and the composite films have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The dielectric and pyroelectric measurements were carried out to study the effects of Mn doping content on the electric properties of composites. It was found that the electric properties of composites show great dependence on Mn doping content in PZTMx ceramic filler. Especially, the pyroelectric coefficient and detectivity figure of merit (FD) of the PZTM2/P(VDF-TrFE) composite film reached 113 μC/m2 K and 1.77 × 10−5 Pa−1/2, which increased about 26% and 35% than the pure PZT/P(VDF-TrFE) composite film, respectively.