Aqueous Co-precipitated spherical shape PbZrO3 nanopowders: Perovskite phase formation

The perovskite phase formation of nanocrystalline powder of lead zirconate (PbZrO3, PZ) was investigated. The structure, phase formation and morphology of PZ powders were characterized using the X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Tetragonal zirconia (t-ZrO2) phase was found as an intermediate phase during the calcinations process, followed by the crystallization of the orthorhombic PZ phase. The change in relative amount of the residual t-ZrO2 phase as a function of calcination temperature was estimated from the relative intensities of selected Raman peaks. From a TEM photograph, the PbZrO3 powder was found to be spherical in shape with uniform nanosized features. The average particle size for the calcined powders was about 10.44±1.21 nm.