High pyroelectric performance due to ferroelectric-antiferroelectric transition near room temperature

Pyroelectric materials have a huge market in daily life applications and high pyroelectric performances near room temperature are highly desired. Here we report high pyroelectric performance with adjustable peak performance temperature of 29-46.2 °C in the (1-x)Pb0.99Nb0.02[(Zr0.57Sn0.43)0.937Ti0.063]0.98O3-xZnO ((1-x)PNZST-xZnO) composite. The x = 0.1 composite has a peak pyroelectric coefficient of 1053.9 × 10-4 C m-2 K-1 and figures of merit of Fv = 1249.4 × 10-2 m2 C-1, Fd = 876.3 × 10-5 Pa-1/2, and Fi = 832.7 × 10-10 m V-1 at around 39 °C. It is found that a robust room temperature ferroelectric state is realized in antiferroelectric PNZST due to ZnO-induced internal strain. The thermal-driven ferroelectric to antiferroelectric transition leads to high pyroelectric performance. This work provides a promising material candidate for high performance pyroelectric devices.