In situ temperature synthesis and characterization of ferroelectric PZN-4.5PT nanoparticles' thin films using synchrotron light source.

Despite the excellent properties of Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-4.5PbTiO3 (PZN-4.5PT) single crystals, the greatest difficulty for their application on electronic devices is to make them to thin layers related to the difficulty to make them as ceramic materials. In this paper, we use the combined USAXS/SAXS/WAXS instrument at 9ID beamline at APS-ANL for in situ characterization of PZN-4.5PT inorganic perovskite nanoparticles thin films deposited on nanotextured silicon to understand the phase transitions and determine the observed microcrystals' structure. The sample was annealed from ambient to 1000°C. The results revealed structure changes in the nanoparticles' thin films which could be explained by the new phase that can be assigned to the Pb3(PO4)2-based component. The peak at 31° indicates the presence of the rhombohedral phase perovskites assigned to the nanoparticles. WAXS characterization permitted to identification of many transitions during thermal annealing like dehydration or dihydroxylation of phosphorus gel –OH bonds and internal water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]