Comment on “Monoclinic phase of PbZr_0.52ti_0.48O₃ ceramics: Raman and phenomenological thermodynamic studies”

Recently, Souza Filho et al. [A. G. Souza Filho, K. C. V. Lima, A. P. Ayala, I. Guedes, P. T. C. Freire, J. Mendes Filho, E. B. Araujo, and J. A. Eiras, Phys. Rev. B 61, 14 283 (2000)] reported a phase transition between monoclinic and tetragonal phases as a function of temperature in a PbZr_0.52ti_0.48O₃ ceramic sample, observed by Raman spectroscopy. We show that their observation has no relation to the phase transition and the anomaly they interpreted as an indication of a phase transition was due to the erroneous curve fit procedure, which predicts a clearly observable phase transition for all tetragonal lead-zirconate-titanate ceramics, including lead titanate. A more appropriate way to study this phase transition phenomena by Raman spectroscopy is discussed.