Effect of Zr/Ti ratio on microstructure and electrical properties of pyroelectric ceramics for energy harvesting applications

Abstract In this paper, Pb[(Mn x Nb 1-x ) 1/2 (Mn x Sb 1-x ) 1/2 ] y (Zr z Ti 1-z ) 1-y O 3 (lead magnesium niobate-lead antimony-manganese-lead zirconate titanate: PMnN-PMS-PZT) ceramics with three different Zi/Ti compositions of 95/5 (Zr95), 85/15 (Zr85) and (Zr85 + Zr95) were successfully fabricated and characterized. The effect of Zr/Ti ratio on the microstructure and electric properties were studied in detail. The pyroelectric coefficient of Zr95 ceramic was 5957 μC/m 2 K which was more than 2–3 times higher than other reported pyroelectric ceramics. The effect on pyroelectric energy harvesting was systemically investigated via a variation of Zr/Ti compositions in the ceramics, which was directly evaluated by the output power acquired from the data acquisition system. The output power was 25.7 μW, 4.8 μW and 14.2 μW at a composition ratio of Zr95, Zr85 and Zr85 + Zr95, respectively under identical conditions. Among the three Zi/Ti compositions, the best pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties were achieved with Zr95, which indicated that the pyroelectric energy harvesting can be efficiently optimized by the appropriate control of phase structure.