Relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystals 0.72Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.28PbTiO(3) (PMN-0.28PT) were grown by a modified Bridgman technique. The direct current (dc) conductivity was investigated and corresponding conduction mechanisms were discussed. V ''(pb) - V-O(center dot center dot). defects are dominant from 245 degrees C to 650 degrees C. The ferroelectric properties of [1 1 1]-oriented PMN-0.28PT were systematically investigated, with the coercive field (E-C) of 5.2 kV cm(-1) and remnant polarization (P-r) of 37.8 mu C cm(-2) at room temperature. Moreover, the dielectric and pyroelectric performances of PMN-0.28PT were measured and the integrated pyroelectric performances greatly enhanced after annealing in oxygen at 500 degrees C for 20h. This is due to the decrease of oxygen vacancies in the single crystals when being annealed in the oxygenrich atmosphere. These make [1 1 1]-oriented PMN-0.28PT crystals a promising candidate for infrared detectors and thermal imagers used at room temperature. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.