LEEDS, UK -- A group of UK researchers are showing the potential of a new synthetic material to replace Pb-based ceramics in electronics devices.

Materials engineers at the University of Leeds are investigating Pb-free ceramic materials that, in certain situations, can be substituted for traditional piezoelectric material such as lead zirconium titanate (PZT).

The researchers assert a Pb-free ceramic known as potassium sodium bismuth titanate (KNBT) shows many of the necessary electrical and chemical properties of an adequate replacement for PZT. The researchers also claim KNBT is lightweight and usable at room temperature.

Their research has been published this month in Applied Physics Letters.

Pb-bearing piezoelectrics are currently exempt under EU RoHS laws but uncertainty looms over long-term exemptions of any Pb-based material.

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