Anisotropic growth kinetics and electric properties of PZT‐5H single crystal by solid‐state crystal growth method

The PZT-5H single crystal growth on [111]c-, [110]c-, and [001]c-oriented seed crystal by solid-state crystal growth (SSCG) method was investigated. The growth rate of PZT-5H single crystal strongly depends on seed crystal orientation and annealing time. The mean growth distance is 682, 620, and 93 mu m for [111]c-, [110]c-, and [001]c-oriented PZT-5H single crystal grown at 1150 degrees C for 8 h, respectively. The growth kinetics of SSCG-grown PZT-5H single crystal was discussed. It is found that the growth of single crystal is driven by the solubility difference between the matrix grains and single crystal growth front interface, arising from the local curvature and the crystallographic directions dependent solubility. The growth of [001]c-oriented PZT-5H single crystal was mainly contributed from the difference solubility arising from the local curvature of growth front interface, while the growth of [111]c- and [110]c-oriented PZT-5H single crystal was mainly contributed from the difference solubility between {111} and {110} plane of single crystal and matrix grains. The piezoelectric coefficient d(33) of up to 1028pC/N (about 50% larger than that of the same component ceramic) was obtained in a [110]c-oriented PZT-5H single crystal with a Curie temperature of about 230 degrees C. The large field piezoelectric constants d(33)* of up to 1160 pm/V (about 50% larger than that of the same component ceramic) at 15 kV/cm was also obtained in [110]c-oriented PZT-5H single crystal with a large strain of 0.18%. This work deepens our understanding on the growth kinetics of SSCG and pushes the way of growth of soft PZT single crystal by SSCG.