Ultra-thin lead oxide piezoelectric layers for reduced environmental contamination using a liquid metal-based process

Abstract

Mitigation of the health hazards and environmental pollution caused by Pb is necessary. However, piezoelectric Pb containing compounds, such as PZT, are still widely used in many industries and health sectors. One approach to reduce the hazards and contamination caused by Pb is to decrease the amount of this element in the devices by size reduction. In this regard, the possibility of using ultra-thin piezoelectric PbO films should be investigated. However, to date, the development of such two-dimensional (2D) PbO films, in large lateral dimensions, has faced certain challenges. Here a liquid metal-based 2D printing technique is employed to produce unit-cell thick PbO sheets by harvesting the..