Dr Ewa Ćwikiel, researcher at the University of Silesia, has developed a new method of obtaining a ceramic-polymer composite of bismuth titanate-poly (vinylidene fluoride). The composite is an alternative to the currently most commonly used piezoelectric and ferroelectric ceramics containing toxic lead.

Composites of this type can be used to build high-temperature piezoelectric transducers, capacitors or non-volatile ferroelectric FRAM memories, which are used to store information constantly even when the device is not powered, with maintaining the speed of their transmission and low use of electricity.

The new method of obtaining ceramic bismuth titanate consists in mixing the ferroelectric bismuth titanate powder Bi4Ti3O12 obtained by the sol-gel method with a polymer binder in the form of polyvinylidene fluoride powder. The solution is covered by patent protection.