Hydrothermal synthesis of ferroelectric PbTiO3 nanoparticles with dominant {001} facets by titanate nanostructure

A facile hydrothermal method has been developed to synthesize single-crystal ferroelectric PT nanoplates by using K2Ti6O13 nanowires as synthetic precursor. The PT nanoplates with dominant {001} facets have the side length of 500–700 nm and height of 100–150 nm. Piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) results demonstrated that the PT nanoplates show obvious piezoelectric and ferroelectric activity. Moreover, the crystal growth of the PT nanoplates has been discussed. The results revealed that the gradual dissolution of K2Ti6O13 nanowires in alkali solution and the template of lead oxide are essential to the formation of PT nanoplates.