Dielectric and pyroelectric activities in Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 ceramics: The role of the phase transition effects

Pure and Nb-doped Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 (x = 0.47, 0.48, 0.50) ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction technique. Dielectric anomalies are observed in both kinds of samples near room temperature. The anomalies could be depressed by donor doping and prefer to be significant in ceramics with tetragonal crystallographic phase. Phase transition mechanism and domain wall pinning effect are proposed to explain this anomaly, and the former is considered as the dominated reason. Further results of the pyroelectric measurements confirm the existence of the ferroelectric–ferroelectric phase transition.