It is a ceramic perovskite material that shows a marked piezoelectric effect, meaning that the compound changes shape when an electric field is applied.

Piezoelectric ceramics are chosen for applications because of their physical strength, chemical inertness and their relatively low manufacturing cost.

[2] Recently, there has been a large push towards finding alternatives to PZT due to legislations in many countries restricting the use of lead alloys and compounds in commercial products.

[4] Being pyroelectric, this material develops a voltage difference across two of its faces under changing temperature conditions; consequently, lead zirconate titanate can be used as a heat sensor.

Lead zirconate titanate is used to make ultrasound transducers and other sensors and actuators, as well as high-value ceramic capacitors and FRAM chips.

In general, soft lead zirconate titanate has a higher piezoelectric constant, but larger losses in the material due to internal friction.

In hard lead zirconate titanate, domain wall motion is pinned by the impurities, thereby lowering the losses in the material, but at the expense of a reduced piezoelectric constant.