Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanofibers are obtained by electrospinning a sol-gel based solution and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) polymer, and subsequent sintering of the electrospun precursor fibers. The PVP content of the precursor solution is critical in the formation of the fully fibrous mats. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to examine the morphology of the precursor fibers and a...

Lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 or PZT) ferroelectric ceramics have been widely used in transducers, actuators, and sensors, since they posses high dielectric and piezoelectric properties with a relatively high temperature of operation. Commercially used PZT ceramics are always modified by different dopants and are divided into the “soft” (donor doped) and “hard” (acceptor doped) groups...

In this study, we fabricated piezoelectric energy harvesters composed of lead-free (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN) thin films and compared the power generation performance with PZT-thin film energy harvesters. Both of the piezoelectric thin films were deposited on Pt/Ti/Si cantilevers by rf-sputtering. The KNN and PZT thin films had perovskite structure, and showed the relative dielectric constants of 744 and...

We demonstrate a water-immersible thin film lead zirconate titanate, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3, [PZT] actuator, without special passivation layer, towards in-vivo or in-vitro scanning probe microscope (SPM) measurements of living cells in water or biological fluids. In order to be water-immersible, the electrodes need to be electrically insulated and the piezoelectric layer needs to be protected against dire...

Photoacoustic (PA) signals are short ultrasound (US) pulses typically characterized by a single-cycle shape, often referred to as N-shape. The spectral content of such wideband signals ranges from a few hundred kilohertz to several tens of megahertz. Typical reception frequency responses of classical piezoelectric US imaging transducers, based on PZT technology, are not sufficiently broadband t...