Search

The properties of ferroelectric materials, such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT), are heavily influenced by the interaction of defects with domain walls. These defects are either intrinsic, or are induced by the addition of dopants. We study here PbTiO$_3$ (the end member of a key family of solid solutions) in the presence of acceptor (Fe) and donor (Nb) dopants, and the interactions of the different defects and defect associates with the domain walls. For the case iron acceptors, the calculations point to the formation of defect associates involving an iron substitutional defect and a charged oxygen vacancy (Fe$^{'}_{Ti}$-V$^{^{\textbf{..}}}_O$). This associate exhibits a strong tendency to align in the direction of the bulk polarization; in fact, ordering of defects is also observed in pure PbTiO$_3$ in the form of lead-oxygen divacancies. Conversely, calculations on donor-doped PbTiO$_3$ do not indicate the formation of polar defect complexes involving donor substitutions. Last, it is observed that both isolated defects in donor-doped materials and defect associates in acceptor-doped materials are more stable at 180$^o$ domain walls. However, polar defect complexes lead to asymmetric potentials at domain walls due to the interaction of the defect polarization with the bulk polarization. The relative pinning characteristics of different defects are then compared, to develop an understanding of defect-domain wall interactions in both doped and pure PbTiO$_3$. These results may also help understanding hardening and softening mechanisms in PZT., Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Phys Rev B on December 2013

Using Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory we describe 180-degree domain wall structure, intrinsic energy and carrier accumulation in rhombohedral phase of BaTiO3 as a function of the wall orientation and flexoelectric coupling strength. Two types of domain wall structures (phases of the wall) exist depending on the wall orientation. The low-energy 'achiral' phase occurs in the vicinity of the {110} wall orientation and has odd polarization profile invariant with respect to inversion about the wall center. The second 'chiral' phase occurs around {211} wall orientations and corresponds to mixed parity domain walls that may be of left-handed or right-handed chirality. The transformation between the phases is abrupt, accompanied with 20-30% change of the domain wall thickness and can happen at fixed wall orientation with temperature change. We suggest that the phase transition may be detected through domain wall thickness change or by c-AFM. The structure of the domain wall is correlated to its conductivity through polarization component normal to the domain wall, which causes free carriers accumulation. Depending on the temperature and flexoelectric coupling strength relative conductivity of the wall becomes at least one order of magnitude higher than in the single-domain region, creating c-AFM contrast enhancement pronounced and detectable., Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, Supplementary materials

The interaction of electric field with charged domain walls in ferroelectrics is theoretically addressed. A general expression for the force acting per unit area of a charged domain wall carrying free charge is derived. It is shown that, in proper ferroelectrics, the free charge carried by the wall is dependent on the size of the adjacent domains. As a result, it was found that the mobility of such domain wall (with respect to the applied field) is sensitive to the parameters of the domain pattern containing this wall. The problem of the force acting on a planar charged 180-degree domain wall normal to the polarization direction in a periodic domain pattern in a proper ferroelectric is analytically solved in terms of Landau theory. It is shown that, in small applied fields (in the linear regime), the forces acting on walls in such pattern increase with decreasing the wall spacing, the direction of the forces coinciding with those for the case of the corresponding neutral walls. At the same time, for large enough wall spacings and large enough fields, these forces can be of the opposite sign. It is shown that the domain pattern considered is unstable in a defect-free ferroelectric. The poling of a crystal containing such pattern, stabilized by the pinning pressure, is also considered. It is shown that, except for a special situation, the presence of charge domain walls can make poling more difficult. It is demonstrated that the results obtained are also applicable to zig-zag walls under the condition that the zig-zag amplitude is much smaller than the domain wall spacing., Comment: 5 figures

"Head-to-head" and "tail-to-tail" 180-degree domain-walls in a finite isolated ferroelectric sample are theoretically studied using Landau theory. The full set of equations, suitable for numerical calculations is developed. The explicit expressions for the polarization profile across the walls are derived for several limiting cases and wall-widths are estimated. It is shown analytically that different regimes of screening and different dependences for width of charged domain walls on the temperature and parameters of the system are possible, depending on spontaneous polarization and concentration of carriers in the material. It is shown that the half-width of charged domain walls in typical perovskites is about the nonlinear Thomas-Fermi screening-length and about one order of magnitude larger than the half-width of neutral domain-walls. The formation energies of "head-to-head" walls under different regimes of screening are obtained, neglecting the poling ability of the surface. It is shown that either "head-to-head" or "tail-to-tail" configuration can be energetically favorable in comparison with the monodomain state of the ferroelectric if the poling ability of the surface is large enough. If this is not the case, the existence of charged domain walls in bulk ferroelectrics is merely a result of the domain-growth kinetics. Size-effect corresponding to the competition between state with charged domain wall, single domain state, multidomain state, and the state with the zero polarization is considered. The results obtained for the case of an isolated ferroelectric sample were compared with the results for an electroded sample. It was shown that charged domain wall in electroded sample can be either metastable or stable, depends on the work function difference between electrodes and ferroelectric and the poling ability of the electrode/ferroelectric interface., Comment: 47 pages, 10 figures

The size effect in ferroelectrics is treated as a competition between the geometrical symmetry of the ferroelectric sample and its crystalline symmetry. The manifestation of this competition is shown to be polarization rotation, which is driven by temperature and/or size variations, thus providing a qualitative indication of intrinsic finite size effect on ferroelectrics. The concept is demonstrated in a simple case of PbTiO3 nanowires having their axis parallel to [111]C direction, where the size effect is shown to include polarization rotation and an additional phase transition., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, journal paper

The structural phase diagram of the Pb-free ferroelectric (Na1/2Bi1/2)1-xBaxTiO3 (NBT-BT), x<0.1, has been explored by Raman spectroscopy at temperatures from 10 to 470 K. The data provide clear evidence for a proposed temperature-independent morphotropic phase boundary at x \approx 0.055. However, there is no evidence for a structural phase transition across T \approx 370 K for x > 0.055, where bulk-property anomalies appear to signal a transition to a nonpolar or antiferroelectric phase. The results identify that the phase above 370 K shows short-range ionic displacements that are identical to those in the long-range-ordered phase below 370 K. These conclusions provide a natural interpretation of the weak piezoelectric response in this system and have important implications for the search for Pb-free piezoelectrics., Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures

An evidence that the dielectric ageing in the polydomain Pb(Zr0.45Ti0.55)O3 thin films is controlled by progressive pinning of 180 domain walls is presented. To provide such a conclusion, we use a general method, which is based on the study of the time evolution of the nonlinear, but anhysteretic, dielectric response of the ferroelectric to a weak electric field. A thermodynamic model of the ferroelectric system where the dielectric response is controlled by bending movements of pinned 180 domain walls is developed. Within this model, the nonlinear permittivity of the ferroelectric is expressed as a function of the microstructural parameters of the domain pattern. It is shown that using the analysis of the time evolution of the nonlinear permittivity, it is possible to estimate changes in the concentration of the pinning centers that block the movements of the 180 domain walls during aging in polydomain perovskite ferroelectrics., Comment: This version is modifed and corrected according to recently published Erratum: Phys. Rev. B 79, 219903(E) (2009). 21 pages, 3 figures

The importance of a high shear coefficient d15 (or d24) to the piezoelectric properties of domain-engineered and polycrystalline ferroelectrics is discussed. The extent of polarization rotation, as a mechanism of piezoelectric response, is directly correlated to the shear coefficient. The terms "rotator" and "extender" are introduced to distinguish the contrasting behaviors of crystals such as 4mm BaTiO3 and PbTiO3. In "rotator" ferroelectrics, where d15 is high relative to the longitudinal coefficient d33, polarization rotation is the dominant mechanism of piezoelectric response; the maximum longitudinal piezoelectric response is found away from the polar axis. In "extender" ferroelectrics, d15 is low and the collinear effect dominates; the maximum piezoelectric response is found along the polar axis. A variety of 3m, mm2 and 4mm ferroelectrics, with various crystal structures based on oxygen octahedra, are classified in this way. It is shown that the largest piezoelectric anisotropies d15/d33 are always found in 3m crystals; this is a result of the intrinsic electrostrictive anisotropy of the constituent oxygen octahedra. Finally, for a given symmetry, the piezoelectric anisotropy increases close to ferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transitions; this includes morphotropic phase boundaries and temperature induced polymorphic transitions., Comment: accepted in J. Appl. Phys

The question of the origin of the piezoelectric properties enhancement in perovskite ferroelectrics is approached by analyzing the Gibbs free energy of tetragonal BaTiO3, PbTiO3 and Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 in the framework of the Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory. The flattening of the Gibbs free energy profile appears as a fundamental thermodynamic process behind the piezoelectric enhancement. The generality of the approach is demonstrated by examining the free energy flattening and piezoelectric enhancement as a function of composition, temperature, electric field and mechanical stress. It is shown that the anisotropy of the free energy flattening is the origin of the anisotropic enhancement of the piezoelectric response, which can occur either by polarization rotation or by polarization contraction. Giant enhancement of the longitudinal piezoelectric response (on the order of 1000 pC/N) is predicted in PbTiO3 under uniaxial compression., Comment: 19 pages, 4 Figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. B