A perovskite lead-free antiferroelectric xCaHfO3-(1-x)NaNbO3 with induced double hysteresis loops at room temperature

We demonstrated a new CaHfO3-NaNbO3 solid solution system that allows stable antiferroelectric (AFE) (P) phase to exist under ambient conditions. Based on crystal chemistry viewpoint of relative change of the Goldschmidt tolerance factor (t) and polarizability, two new solid solutions were fabricated using the perovskite end member CaHfO3. It was found that the CaHfO3 effectively stabilized the antiferroelectric (AFE) P phase in NaNbO3. In this article, electrical properties and transmission electron microscopy experiments were conducted to verify the stabilization and enhancement of antiferroelectric behavior over the various solid solutions, where both structural signature of 1/4{010} superlattice diffraction reflections and electrical characteristic of double polarization-electric (P-E) hysteresis were observed. Published by AIP Publishing.