Piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials: Fundamentals, recent progress, and applications

Piezo-/ferroelectric materials form an important class of functional materials that convert energies between electrical and mechanical energies, thus are critical for numerous applications. This chapter starts with an introduction of the piezo-/ferroelectric materials, followed by a detailed discussion on the recent progress on lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based ceramics, relaxor-based piezoelectric single crystals, lead-free perovskite piezoelectric materials, high-temperature piezoelectric materials and textured piezoelectric ceramics. At last, the current and potential applications of piezo-/ferroelectric materials are presented.