Journal
ADVANCED MATERIALS
Volume 32, Issue 9, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201907208
Keywords
cycloidal polarization; energy storage; ferrodistortive phase; PbZrO3; phase transition
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Funding
- European Research Council under the EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC [268058]
- National Science Centre, Poland [2016/21/B/ST3/02242]
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Antiferroelectric-based dielectric capacitors are receiving tremendous attention for their outstanding energy-storage performance and extraordinary flexibility in collecting pulsed powers. Nevertheless, the in situ atomic-scale structural-evolution pathway, inherently coupling to the energy storage process, has not been elucidated for the ultimate mechanistic understanding so far. Here, time- and atomic-resolution structural phase evolution in antiferroelectric PbZrO3 during storage of energy from the electron-beam illumination is reported. By employing state-of-the-art negative-spherical-aberration imaging technique, the quantitative transmission electron microscopy study presented herein clarifies that the hierarchical evolution of polar oxygen octahedra associated with the unit-cell volume change and polarization rotation accounts for the stepwise antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric phase transition. In particular, an unconventional ferroelectric category-the ferrodistortive phase characteristic of a unique cycloidal polarization order-is established during the dynamic structure investigation. Through clarifying the atomic-scale phase transformation pathway, findings of this work unveil a new territory to explore novel ferrodistortive phases in energy-storage materials with the nonpolar-to-polar phase transitions.
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