The phenomenon that electricity could be produced in some crystals by subjecting them to mechanical pressures was suggested by Charles Coulomb in 1825. This was further verified by the research efforts of Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880 at the University of Paris, where they studied on crystals such as quartz, sodium potassium tartrate (Rochelle salt), and tourmaline. By placing weights on the faces of particular crystal cuts, they succeeded in detecting charges on the crystal surfaces and demonstrated that the magnitude of charge was proportional to the applied weight, thus verifying the direct piezoelectric effect.

The converse piezoelectric effect, that is the development of a mechanical strain when an electric field is applied to a crystal such as quartz, was predicted in 1881 by Lippmann, and was experimentally supported by the Curies in the same year. Shortly after, Hankel suggested the name “piezoelectricity” to describe the effect. Since then the term “piezoelectricity” has been used until now.

Theoretical advances in understanding piezoelectricity in crystals were made during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s by the pioneering efforts of Lord Kelvin, Pierre Duhem, Friedrich Pockels, and Woldemar Voigt. Indeed, the classic work of Voigt became the foundation for a great deal of research in the field of piezoelectricity in the twentieth century.

Significant experimental contributions to the evolution and exploitation of the piezoelectric effect came from the field of crystallography, which received an enormous boost in 1912 with the discovery that crystals could act as the three-dimension X-ray diffraction gratings. This has led to a number of studies that linked observed piezoelectric properties to internal crystalline structures.

The first application of the piezoelectric effect was a force and charge measuring apparatus patented by the Curies in 1887. They used the piezoelectric effect to measure voltages and forces by constructing bimorphs from two X cut quartz plates of opposite polarity. Other applications for the piezoelectric effect in crystals subsequently appeared thirty years later.

Until 1940, only two types of ferroelectrics were known, Rochelle salt and some closely related tartrates and potassium dihydrogen phosphate followed quartz and its isomorphs. In 1941, the first introduction of unusual dielectric properties in refractory oxides amenable to ceramic preparation was reported by Thurnauer and Deaderick of American Lava Co. on a series of barium oxide-titanium oxide compositions. Test results have shown that these materials possessed much higher dielectric constant compared to already known highest dielectric constant material rutile. Wainer then carried out detailed exploration of dielectrics in the titania-alkaline earth oxide systems and his work was published in 1946. Meanwhile, the high dielectric constant of barium titanate has also been independently reported in Russia, England and Japan.

There were three basic discoveries that led to the understanding of piezoelectricity in ceramics. The first of these was the discovery of the high dielectric constant. The second was the realization that the cause of the high dielectric constant was ferroelectricity. The third significant discovery was poling process.

The first commercial piezoelectric barium titanate devices were phonograph pickups marketed by Sonotone Corporation in 1947. Rapid development of barium titanate piezoelectrics then followed. Compositional modifications were found desirable to improve the temperature stability or to gain moderate improvements in voltage output. Several other perovskite and oxide ceramic compositions investigated during the early 1950’s formed the basic constituents of modern piezoelectric ceramics. These compositions include lead titanate (PbTiO₃) (PT), lead zirconate (PbZrO₃), lead metaniobate (PbNb₂O₆), and lead zirconate titanate [Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃] (PZT). Among them, the discovery of PZT solid solutions is most significant. Today, PZT has become the dominant piezoelectric ceramics for transducers, resonators and actuators due to its superior ferroelectric natures. PZT, PT and PZT based binary or ternary system with different additives have been detailed studied and improved to fulfill the quick development of microelectric and electromechanical technology. In the recent years, these materials have been formed into different structures such as film, bulk, or multilayer with different techniques and widely utilized in electromechanical devices.