The effects of aging and concentration on some interesting Sol-gel parameters: A feasibility study for PZT nanoparticles insertion on in-house prepared PAA matrices via electrophoresis

Abstract

Sol-gel synthesis has been a very successful and efficient route for obtaining high quality ferroelectric/ piezoelectric materials. Piezoelectric nanostructures, however, constitute a very recent field of research and special emphasis must be put on optimizing the packing of particles inside the nanoporous matrix in order to obtain nanomaterials with potential use on practical applications. In this work we study the influence of some critical sol features (aging time and concentration) on several interesting parameters when considering the electrophoretic insertion of Lead Titanate Zirconate (PZT) 53/47 nanoparticles in a Porous Anodic Alumina matrix. Our study focuses on pH, Zeta potential, Liquid Surface Tension, Mean Nanoparticles Size and Crystallization Routes. According to our results, and despite some previous reports, a successful electrophoretic deposition can be carried out on a wide range of concentrations and aging times.

A ‘Universal’ Bottom-up Sol-gel Based Synthesis of Pzt (1-x)/x Submicrometric Structures: 1. Dynamic Light Scattering Characterization of Precursor Stability and Aggregation Kinetics

“…Sol-6040 refers to the synthesized precursor of the PZT 60/40 composition. 12,14 . Samples were stocked and characterized at an average room temperature of ~ 15 °C, only conditioned by the time of the year when these measurements were made.…”

“…As for the chosen synthesis route, we use an acetate/ alkoxides sol-gel three-steps route modified with acetylacetone as chelating agent and stabilized with 2-methoxyethanol (2-MOE) that has been clearly detailed previously 13 and later expanded and improved to take into account several important physicochemical factors 14 . One of those relevant factors under study has been the sol stability with time -or shelf life, as is usually termed-and the description of the aggregation kinetics 12 in order to achieve homogeneous solutions for any future processing: nanopowder synthesis, chemical solution deposition, electrophoretic deposition, simple wetting, and others.…”