Abstract
An approach for domain switching in polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics is described. In domain switching, the ferroelectric material changes from one spontaneously polarized state to another under electrical or mechanical loads. It is demonstrated that the polarizations and strains of the different variants in the single crystal should span a sufficiently large space to enable domain switching in a generic polycrystal. The relation between crystallographic symmetry and the ability of a ferroelectric polycrystalline ceramic for domain switching shows that equiaxed polycrystals of materials that are either tetragonal or rhombohedral cannot switch, but polycrystals of materials where these two symmetries co-exist can switch.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 776-781 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Nature Materials |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors thank M. Daymond, E. Oliver and J. Santisteban for their assistance with the experiments, a referee for suggesting the consistency check using the spontaneous polarization of PZT ceramics, and gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the US Army Research Office through DAAD 19-01-1-0517. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to K.B. Supplementary Information accompanies this paper on www.nature.com/naturematerials.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| US Army Research Office | DAAD 19-01-1-0517 |