3D nanoprinting piezoceramic with large elastic deformation and high piezoelectricity

Abstract Piezoceramic is ubiquitously used in high-performance sensors and actuators. Three-dimensional (3D) printing of PZT is attractive and highly desired for such device applications, but most of the existing methods are inherently limited to micron resolution, which makes them untenable for fabricating complex 3D architectures with high-definition features. Here, an electrohydrodynamic jet (E-Jet) nanoprinting strategy has been proposed to fabricate PZT 3D structures with the characteristics of flexibility, fast, and scalability. Different kinds of 3D PZT true nanostructures (resolution ~40 nm, aspect ratio~400) were directly fabricated using a 100 μm-sized nozzle. And the PZT nanostructures proved well-developed perovskite crystal morphology, large elastic strain (elongation ≈13%), and high piezoelectric property (d31 ≈236.5×10−12 C N−1). A bionic PZT air-flow sensor was printed to monitor air-flow detection, demonstrating well sensitivity with ultra-slow air-flow of 0.02 m s−1. The discovery reveals an efficient pathway to 3D-printing PZT nanostructures for next-generation high-performance piezoelectric devices.