Investigation of ceramic powders using piezoresponse force microscopy

Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is a widely used technique for probing the piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of ceramic materials at the nanoscale. However, its application to ceramic powders remains challenging due to the irregular non-flat shape of the powders. In this study, an approach for PFM analysis of ceramic powders is presented, where ceramic powders are embedded in polymer resin and polished to achieve flat surface for PFM imaging. The approach is demonstrated on ferroelectric PbZr 0.53 Ti 0.47 O 3 (PZT) and 0.65Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –0.35PbTiO 3 (PMN-35PT) powders. PFM imaging reveals the piezoelectricity within the powder particles and localises the ferroelectric domains within them, while the PFM switching spectroscopy experiment is used to observe the domain switching behavior.