Shaw, Christopher P.Whatmore, Roger W.Alcock, Jeffrey R.2007-01-232007-01-232007-01Shaw CP, Whatmore RW, Alcock JR. (2007) Porous, functionally gradient pyroelectric materials. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Volume 90, Issue 1, pp. 137–1420002-7820http://hdl.handle.net/1826/1391http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-2916.2006.01373.xProperties of a new type of pyroelectric ceramic structure containing a layer of known porosity laminated between two dense layers, to form a functionally gradient material (FGM), are reported. The combination of theoretical models for pyroelectric, dielectric, and thermal properties gave a model for the pyroelectric voltage figure of merit (FV) in good agreement with experiment, which had shown a 20% improvement for an introduced central layer porosity of 27%. Preliminary pyroelectric responsivity measurements on FGM infrared detectors indicated an even better improvement. It is postulated that this is due to the porous layer acting as a thermal barrier in the structure.1478568 bytesapplication/pdfenThe definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.comArticle