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Improvement of pyroelectric figures of merit in zirconia-doped congruent lithium niobate single crystals

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Abstract

Pyroelectric materials are widely investigated for thermal devices. As an efficient standard for evaluation, the pyroelectric figures of merit (FoM) for specific thermal-related applications can clearly represent the performance of voltage responsivity and detectivity. In this paper, six congruent lithium niobate (CLN) single crystals with different ZrO2 doping concentrations were grown by the top-seeded melt growth method including pure CLN. In order to analyze the dielectric and pyroelectric performances, the concentrations, and occupations were extensively studied by ultraviolet and infrared absorption spectra. Our results present an efficient way to improve the FoM of CLN by using zirconia doping. The working temperature of Zr:CLN thermal device can be widened obviously.

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Acknowledgements

This Project was supported by the NSFC (Nos. 11372361, 11302268, 10902128, 10732100, 50802026, 10972239), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Sino French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China

      Y. Z. Zhu, S. P. Lin & D. C. Ma

    2. State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies/Institute of Optoelectronic and Functional Composite Materials, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

      Yue Zheng & Biao Wang

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    1. Y. Z. Zhu
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    2. S. P. Lin
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    3. Yue Zheng
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    4. D. C. Ma
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    Correspondence to D. C. Ma or Biao Wang.

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    Y. Z. Zhu and S. P. Lin are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work.

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    Zhu, Y.Z., Lin, S.P., Zheng, Y. et al. Improvement of pyroelectric figures of merit in zirconia-doped congruent lithium niobate single crystals. J Mater Sci 51, 3155–3161 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9625-5

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