Relationship between ferroelectric properties and local structure of Pb1-xBaxZr0.40Ti0.60O3 ceramic materials studied by X-ray absorption and Raman spectroscopies

This paper reports on the structural characterization of Pb1-xBaxZr0.40Ti0.60O3 (PBZT) ferroelectric ceramic compositions prepared by the conventional solid state reaction method. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and Raman spectroscopy were used in the probing of the local structure of PBZT samples that exhibit a normal or relaxor ferroelectric behavior. They showed a considerable local disorder around Zr and Pb atoms in the samples of tetragonal or cubic long-range order symmetry. The intensity of the E(TO3) mode in the Raman spectra of PBZT relaxor samples remains constant at temperatures lower than Tm, which has proven the stabilization of the correlation process between nanodomains.