Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-02766-z Enhanced pyroelectric fgure of merits in Sr and Zr co-doped porous BaTiO 3 ceramics Mehak Aggarwal 1  · Manoj Kumar 1  · Rajat Syal 1  · V. P. Singh 2  · Arun Kumar Singh 3  · Shobhna Dhiman 1  · Sanjeev Kumar 1 Received: 26 November 2019 / Accepted: 13 December 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract Porous Ba 0.85 Sr 0.15 Zr 0.1 Ti 0.9 O 3 (BSZT + X wt% Poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA)) with X = 0, 5, 10, 15 ceramics were prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. Structural, dielectric, ferroelectric, and pyroelectric properties were systematically investigated with the increase in pore-forming agent PVA. X-ray difraction (XRD) pattern shows co-existence of tetragonal and orthorhombic symmetries with space group P4mm and Amm2, respectively. Microstructure depicts the pore density in the ceramic samples increases with increase in PVA content. The temperature-dependent dielectric analysis illustrates that there is no change in Curie temperature (T c ~ 327K) with the increase in PVA. Dielectric constant value decreases and dielectric loss increases with increase in PVA. The pyroelectric coefcient increases with the applied feld and decreases with an increase in PVA. We observed strongly enhanced pyroelectric fgure of merits (FOMs) with an increase in porosity content. At room temperature, porous BSZT ceramic sample (BSZT + 15 wt% PVA) exhibits a 29.17% increase in pyroelectric energy harvesting fgure of merit F e , 101.73% increase in energy harvesting fgure of merit F e * , 81.93% increase in voltage responsivity F v , 10.95% increase in current responsivity F i , 24.97% increase in detectivity-based FOM compared to dense ceramic sample. The enhancement in these FOMs is useful in the development of pyroelectric devices. 1 Introduction Pyroelectric materials are very much explored by researchers due to their ability to produce electric voltages/currents with the change in temperature [1, 2]. These materials are the most frequently used materials in device fabrication, actua- tors, sensing applications like infrared detectors, intruder alarms, fire alarms, pollution monitoring devices, laser detectors, and thermal sensing applications [3–5]. Pyroelec- tric infrared detectors are of great interest because of its wide operating range of temperature, low cost, low power consumption, and high stability [6, 7]. Lead-based pyroelec- tric materials like lead titanate PbTiO 3 (PT), PbZrTiO 3 (PZT) are frequently used materials in pyroelectric applica- tions [8]. Due to the toxic nature of lead, these materials are facing global restrictions, therefore researchers are more interested in lead-free pyroelectric ceramics. Materials like BaTiO 3 (BT), (K,Na)NbO 3 (KNN), Ba x Sr 1−x TiO 3 (BST), and (1−x)Ba(Ti 0.8 Zr 0.2 )O 3 –x(Ba 0.7 Ca 0.3 )TiO 3 (BCZT) are the alternatives used for ferroelectric studies [9, 10]. Among these ceramics, BaTiO 3 is explored very much by research- ers. Ca- and Zr-doped BaTiO 3 , BCZT is the potential candi- date for piezoelectric and pyroelectric applications with relatively low Curie temperature compared to BaTiO 3 [11–14]. The substitution of large size atom Sr 2+ at A-site in place of Ca 2+ in BCZT will further decrease Curie tempera- ture and enhances pyroelectric FOMs [15]. Sr 2+ -modifed BCZT ceramics exhibit ferroelectric behavior with incom- plete difused phase transition or relaxor behavior [16, 17]. BSZT (Ba 0.85 Sr 0.15 Zr 0.1 Ti 0.9 O 3 ) has a higher value of pyro- electric coefcient resulting in higher value of pyroelectric FOMs. These FOMs are the key parameters defning the quality of pyroelectric materials used for practical devices. * Shobhna Dhiman shobhnadhiman1962@gmail.com * Sanjeev Kumar sanjeev04101977@gmail.com 1 Department of Applied Sciences, Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University), Chandigarh 160012, India 2 Govt. Engineering College, Bharatpur, Rajasthan 321001, India 3 Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University), Chandigarh 160012, India