A new lead-free ferroelectric material was developed. Ferroelectric materials are widely used for capacitors and piezoelectric devices. In those applications, xxlead-freexx is an important keyword due to environmental issues. The newly developed material is a Ba-Ti-O double oxide, BaTa2O5. The compound was synthesized in single crystal by a floating zone (FZ) method. Excellent ferroelectricity was discovered in a particular direction of crystal plane. The result was reported in the Japan Industrial Journal on January 17.
Prof. Goto group（Solidification and Casting Metallurgy）