Although the PbZr1-xTixO3 (PZT) materials have been studied for many years, there are still many questions concerning their phase diagram. Recently a new diagram has been proposed [1]. However, it is worth mentioning that the most of studies, also those presented in [1], were carried out on ceramics due to difficulties in obtaining PZT single crystals of good quality. Recently transparent PZT single crystal with x = 0.13, and with homogenous Ti concentration, has been successfully grown by means of top-seeded solution growth method [2]. Composition of this crystal was determined by EDS technique. It was also confirmed that distribution of the Pb and Zr ions was homogenous. From diagram reported in [1] it appears that the crystal with such Ti concentration reveals a coexistence of phases of different symmetries. In PbZr0.87Ti0.13O3 single crystal the dielectric, piezoelectric and optical properties confirm this mixture of phases, and distinct anomalies of permittivity near 284 oC and 115 oC correspond to two main transitions known as PC (m3m)-FR(HT) (R3c) and FR(HT)(R3c)-FR(LT) (R3m). However, another anomaly around 250 oC inside the FR(HT) phase was also observed. The details of this anomaly will be presented and discussed.
References
[1] Zhang N. et al. Nature Comm. 5, 5231 (2014).
[2] Lazar I. et al. Ferroelectrics, 500, 67–75 (2016).