Light-permissive piezoelectrics: advances in Pb-based transparent ceramics and crystals for next-generation devices

), supporting their use in high-efficiency devices. Transparent ultrasonic transducers now offer greater than 80% optical transmission and wide acoustic bandwidths, rivalling conventional systems. While single crystals exhibit higher strain responses (∼1.97%) compared to ceramics (∼0.76%), ceramics offer advantages in terms of processability and compositional flexibility. Together, these advances underscore the potential of transparent PZT-based materials to enable multifunctional devices that bridge the gap between optics and acoustics. This review examines the synthesis, structure-property relationships, and diverse applications of transparent PZT ceramics and single crystals, with a focus on their potential future integration in energy harvesting, wearable electronics, and next-generation optoelectronic systems.