Critical field anisotropy in the antiferroelectric switching of PbZrO3 films

Antiferroelectrics have been recently sparking interest due to their potential use in energy storage and electrocaloric cooling. Their main distinctive feature is antiferroelectric switching, i.e., the possibility to induce a phase transition to a polar phase by an electric field. Here, we investigate the switching behavior of the model antiferroelectric perovskite PbZrO3 using thin films processed by chemical solution deposition in different geometries and orientations. Both out-of-plane and in-plane switching configurations are investigated. The critical field is observed to be highly dependent on the direction of the electric field with respect to the film texture. We show that this behavior is qualitatively consistent with a phase transition to a rhombohedral polar phase. We finally estimate the importance of crystallite orientation and film texturation in the variations observed in the literature.

Automated summary

Antiferroelectrics have been of interest for energy storage and electrocaloric cooling, with distinctive antiferroelectric switching behavior observed in PbZrO3 thin films. The critical field is highly dependent on the electric field direction with respect to film texture, qualitatively consistent with a phase transition to a rhombohedral polar phase. The importance of crystallite orientation and film texturation in observed variations is also estimated.