| All ultrasound devices/sensors use piezoelectric transducers to generate/receive ultrasound. These transducers are made of Pb (Zr 0.53Ti0.47) O3 (PZT) materials. In this article, we report a new way of fabricating PZT material with interesting nanorod and nanohexagon shapes. The PZT nanohexagons with typical diameters and bounding lengths within the nanometer range were synthesized by sintering a mixture of PZT nanocrystals, Tween 20 and sodium chloride, in which the PZT nanocrystals were made by a sol-gel method. The PZT nanorods were also synthesized by sintering a mixture of PZT nanocrystals, Triton and sodium chloride. After annealing at 800°C for three hours, PZT nanorods and PZT nanohexagons formed and exhibited a single-crystalline nanostructure, confirmed by high resolution transmission electronic microscopy (HRTEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman Spectra studies demonstrated their crystal structures and composition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to image their morphologies. |
