Application of CIP processing and sol-gel surface coating to PZN-PZT piezoelectric ceramics for use as energy harvesters

Abstract Piezoelectric 0.2Pb(Zn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -0.8Pb(Zr 1/2 Ti 1/2 )O 3 (PZN-PZT) ceramics in disc form were fabricated and characterized for use as energy harvester devices. A powder mixture with an average particle size of about 1 μm with the addition of 0.5 wt% ZnO was used to obtain a high piezoelectric coefficient and low sintering temperature. A molding method, including cold isostatic pressing (CIP), was used to resolve the cracking and bending problems of thin ceramics during the high-temperature post-processing sintering step. A sol-gel surface coating was found to be very effective for ceramic discs with a very high piezoelectric constant d 33 of 536 pC/N. The results of this study could be applicable to small piezoelectric energy harvester devices.