Chemistry of surface nanostructures in lead precursor-rich PbZr_0.52Ti_0.48O₃ sol-gel films

Authors

I. Gueye, G. Le Rhun, P. Gergaud, O. Renault, E. Defay, and N. Barrett

Reference

Applied Surface Science, vol. 363, pp. 21-28, 2016

Description

We present a study of the chemistry of the nanostructured phase at the surface of lead zirconium titanate PbZr_0.52Ti_0.48O₃ (PZT) films synthesized by sol–gel method. In sol–gel synthesis, excess lead precursor is used to maintain the target stoichiometry. Surface nanostructures appear at 10% excess whereas 30% excess inhibits their formation. Using the surface-sensitive, quantitative X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and glancing angle X-ray diffraction we have shown that the chemical composition of the nanostructures is ZrO_1.82−_1.89 rather than pyrochlore often described in the literature. The presence of a possibly discontinuous layer of wide band gap ZrO_1.82−1.89 could be of importance in determining the electrical properties of PZT-based metal-insulator-metal heterostructures.

Link

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.11.118