Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is placed as the most suitable piezoelectric material for underwater acoustic sensor applications and none of the other materials match up to its performance. Currently, the trend in technology is shifting towards developing flexible large area sensors conformal to the platform on which it has to be deployed or fitted. The flexible polymeric piezomaterials such as PVDF, copolymers of PVDF currently lacks acceptability due to their inferior piezoelectric properties when compared to that of PZT. In this work, an attempt is made to develop PZT thin films on flexible substrates using electrolytic deposition (ELD) technique for conformal sensor applications. PZT is deposited as films on various flexible substrates such as carbon fibers, thin metal foils (titanium, stainless steel) using the electrodeposition technique. The effect of different key parameters like electrolyte medium (aqueous and non-aqueous), current density (10 to 40 mA/cm2), time of deposition  (1 to 10 minutes), sintering temperature (300 to 500°C) and heating time (15 minutes to 1 hour) are described and the results of characterisation using techniques such as SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), EDAX (Energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy), XRD (X ray diffraction) and dielectric studies are reported.

Lead zrconate titanate, tlectrolytic deposition, piezoelectricity, sintering.