Fabrication and piezoresponse of electrospun ultra-fine Pb(Zr0.3, Ti0.7)O3 nanofibers

Ultra-fine Pb(Zr"0"."3, Ti"0"."7)O"3 (PZT) fibers with diameters down to ~100nm have been synthesized by combing the sol-gel method and elecrospinning technique. The as-spun nanoscopic PZT/PVP composite fibers were annealed for 30min at different temperatures, respectively. The morphology and crystalline structure of the sintered Pb(Zr"0"."3Ti"0"."7)O"3 (PZT) nanofibers were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy. The ferroelectronic and piezoelectric properties of single PZT nanofiber are investigated by using piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). The results showed that the well crystallized PZT fibers with diameter of ~100nm can achieve a d"3"3 of ~83.4pm/V, which is much larger than that of the reported PZT thin film, and the domain can be successfully switched, with the switch domain polarity of about 180^o. All these show promise for new nanoscale ferroelectronic devices.