Chemistry of surface nanostructures in lead precursor-rich PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 sol–gel films

Abstract We present a study of the chemistry of the nanostructured phase at the surface of lead zirconium titanate PbZr 0.52 Ti 0.48 O 3 (PZT) films synthesized by sol–gel method. In sol–gel synthesis, excess lead precursor is used to maintain the target stoichiometry. Surface nanostructures appear at 10% excess whereas 30% excess inhibits their formation. Using the surface-sensitive, quantitative X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and glancing angle X-ray diffraction we have shown that the chemical composition of the nanostructures is ZrO 1.82−1.89 rather than pyrochlore often described in the literature. The presence of a possibly discontinuous layer of wide band gap ZrO 1.82−1.89 could be of importance in determining the electrical properties of PZT-based metal-insulator-metal heterostructures.