Preparation of silver dispersed PbTiO3 film by sol-gel method

Silver-dispersed PbTiO3 thin films were prepared by a sol-gel process. The mole fraction of Ag was varied from 0 to 5%. Sintering temperature ranged from 300 to 600 °C. XRD, TEM and UV-VIS absorption spectra were carried out on the films. XRD results indicated that tetragonal PbTiO3 began to crystallize between 400 and 500 °C and grew up when sintering temperature increased to 600 °C. According to TEM results, nanosized cubic Ag particles formed in films when sintered at 400 °C and after annealing at 600 °C for 30 min, both hexagonal Ag and cubic Ag were observed . Ag particle size was dominated by the nucleation of Ag grains during the sintering process. It decreased with the increase in sintering temperature and increased with the increase in Ag concentration and coated layers.