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BaTiO3 is a well-known piezoelectric material with commercial uses. The ferroelectric state of BaTiO3 generally comprises electrically polarized domains separated by domain walls (DWs). The DW alters local polarization vectors by an angle of 90° for 90° DW or 180° for 180° DW. The DW is crucial to piezoelectric properties such as response time and fatigue. Furthermore, the DW structure and its dynamics in BaTiO3 are not well understood. Hence, for the first time, we theoretically obtained the atomistic structure of the 90° DW via molecular dynamics simulations at 300 K with the core–shell interatomic potential, using a large-scale system with a side length of 2.8 × 10 3 Å. The width of the 90° DW thereby obtained was approximately 30 Å, which was 20 Å wider than that of the 180° DW. Under the external electric field E → ext parallel to the DW, we observed an extension of a domain having a polarization vector with a positive component along the E → ext -direction. The migration velocity of the 90° DW was approximately two times that of the 180° DW at the same E ext in the range 7 – 20 MV / m. For E ext ≥ 15 MV / m , the migration velocity of the 90° DW in the direction with a positive component along the polarization vector of the extending domain was substantially higher than that in the opposite direction. The physical causes of the difference in the migration velocities of the 90° DW in the two directions were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarization switching in ferroelectric hysteresis of BaTiO3 proceeds by localized nucleation and subsequent growth of domains of reverse polarization. While this process is driven by the applied electric field, thermal activation can play an important role in domain nucleation. As a consequence of the stochastic nature of thermal activation, coercive fields in small systems exhibit a significant scatter. It is demonstrated that the statistics of coercive fields observed in molecular dynamics simulations is consistent with the statistical distribution expected for field-assisted thermally activated nucleation of reverse polarization domains. The excellent quantitative agreement between the simulation data and the theory of thermally activated processes provides strong evidence that polarization switching occurs by nucleation-and-growth rather than loss of the local minimum of the Gibbs free energy function. In a pristine crystal, switching is controlled by the field at which thermal fluctuations can create a critical nucleus in the bulk (homogeneous nucleation). The analysis of crystals with various vacancy-type defects demonstrates that such defects may enable heterogeneous nucleation at reduced fields. In both cases, the statistical analysis gives access to the respective activation energies, their field dependence, and the sizes of the critical nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BaTiO3 is a well-known piezoelectric material, which is widely used in various devices. In general, the ferroelectric state of BaTiO3 is composed of polarized domains. The growth of these domains due to an applied electric field or stress is related to the piezoelectric performance. We investigated the effects of various point defects, monovacancies {VBa, VTi, VO}, and first- and second-neighbor divacancies {VBa–VO, VTi–VO} on polarized domain growth in BaTiO3 under an applied electric field by molecular dynamics simulations using the core–shell inter-atomic potential. We found that (i) the first-neighbor divacancy VBa–VO is the most effective in assisting the domain growth under an applied electric field (i.e., a smaller coercive electric field) in an asymmetrical manner with respect to the electric field direction. This is mainly due to the creation of an electric field around VBa–VO by significant Ti shifts toward VBa with the assistance of VO. (ii) Domain growth proceeds in a 1 + 2 dimensional manner. The domain growth velocity in the direction of the applied electric field is approximately two orders of magnitude higher than that in the perpendicular direction. (iii) Increasing the density of the divacancy VBa–VO further lowers the coercive electric field when the applied electric field is parallel to the divacancy dipoles. The present results will be essential for designing the type, orientation, and density of defects to modify the coercive electric field of BaTiO3 in defect engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moving components of combustion engines are operated under harsh conditions of high pressures and temperatures. Extreme‐pressure anti‐wear additives, such as tricresyl phosphate (TCP), are mixed with base oil to prevent wear through the formation of a lubricant film on the substrate. We studied the effect of liquid pressure on the decomposition pathway of TCP in base oil molecules (2,5‐dimethylhexane) using hybrid quantum‐classical simulations with density functional theory for electrons. At a temperature of 300 K, we found that: (i) bond‐breaking barrier energies of both the OC and PO bonds of TCP decrease monotonically as the liquid pressure increases; (ii) the bond‐breaking barrier energy of PO is lower than that of OC at pressures of 0 and 2.0 GPa, but is higher at a pressure of 5.0 GPa; and (iii) the applied pressure significantly lowers the bond‐breaking barrier energies of both OC and PO when the PO bond of TCP is directed upward from the substrate. These findings are explained by the inhomogeneous distribution of base oil molecules around TCP and the steric repulsion of the PO bond of TCP. These results indicate that the internal structures of the lubricant films are pressure‐dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We modeled the degradation of a composite produced from an amine-cured epoxy resin and SiO2 nanoparticles with a silane coupling agent (SCA) under wet conditions using electron-level simulations. For the epoxy region, the amine group is protonated depending on its location under neutral or acidic conditions. Protonation substantially weakens the amine C–N bond. For SCA-connected HO–SiO2, terminal –OH of SiO2 is deprotonated under neutral or alkaline conditions, and the energetic barrier to break the Si–O bond is < 1 eV when 50% of the terminal –OH is deprotonated. These findings support the experimental data on pH-dependent degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]