This dataset is a part of the research article 'Understanding the role of aligned porosity on the intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to the dielectric permittivity of freeze-cast ferroelectric'. It contains comprehensive characterisation data for ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate PZT NCE51 ceramic, fabricated using both freeze-casting and conventional solid state route. This dataset contains hysteresis polarisation-electric field loops, impedance spectroscopy data and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, which provide insights into how the microstructure of freeze-cast samples affect the functional properties of the porous freeze-cast ceramics.

In addition, the dataset also contains the results of finite element model, demonstrating how the local field distribution differ between the structures produced via freeze-casting and the burnt-out polymer spheres (BURPS) technique, despite having the same relative density. This difference demonstrate how the permittivity measured differ between these microstructures.

The dataset supports further analysis of the processing-microstructure-property relationships in porous ferroelectric ceramics. This may be of interest to researchers working on design and characterisation of advanced ferroelectric composites.