Motion of phase boundary during antiferroelectric–ferroelectric transition in a PbZrO3 -based ceramic

The in situ biasing transmission electron microscopy technique is employed to investigate the nucleation and growth of the ferroelectric phase during the electric field-induced phase transition in ${\mathrm{Pb}}_{0.99}{{\mathrm{Nb}}_{0.02}{[{({\mathrm{Zr}}_{0.57}{\mathrm{Sn}}_{0.43})}_{0.94}{\mathrm{Ti}}_{0.06}]}_{0.98}}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$, a ${\mathrm{PbZrO}}_{3}$-based antiferroelectric ceramic. The first-order displacive phase transition is found to be highly reversible with the initial antiferroelectric domain configuration almost completely recovered upon removal of the applied field. In the forward transition from the antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase, ${{100}}_{\mathrm{c}}$ facets are dominant on the phase boundary; while in the reverse transition from the ferroelectric to antiferroelectric phase during bias unloading, the phase boundary is segmented into ${{101}}_{\mathrm{c}}$ and ${{121}}_{\mathrm{c}}$ facets. The motion of the phase boundary is nonuniform, taking the form of sequential sweeping of facet segments. The elastic distortion energy and the depolarization energy at the antiferroelectric/ferroelectric phase boundary is suggested to dictate the facet motion.

采用原位偏压透射电子显微镜技术研究了一种基于$PbZrO_3$的反铁电陶瓷$Pb_{0.99}Nb_{0.02}[{(Zr_{0.57}Sn_{0.43})}_{0.94}Ti_{0.06}]_{0.98}O_3$在电场诱导相变过程中铁电相的成核与生长。发现一级位移相变具有高度可逆性，在去除外加电场后，初始反铁电畴结构几乎完全恢复。在从反铁电相到铁电相的正向转变中，{100}$_c$面在相界上占主导；而在偏压卸载过程中从铁电相到反铁电相的反向转变中，相界被分割成{101}$_c$和{121}$_c$面。相界的移动是非均匀的，呈现出面段依次扫过的形式。认为反铁电/铁电相界处的弹性畸变能和退极化能决定了面的移动。