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Functional surface layers in relaxor ferroelectrics

Kumar, Nitish ; Kong, Scarlet ; Sharma, Pankaj ; Shi, Xi ; Vats, Gaurav ; Checchia, Stefano LU orcid ; Seidel, Jan ; Hoffman, Mark and Daniels, John (2020) In Journal of Materials Chemistry C 8(23). p.7663-7671
Abstract

Relaxor ferroelectrics are technologically important materials for applications in, for example, high-temperature capacitors, transducers and nano-positioning systems. These materials have often been reported to exhibit surface or skin layers with distinct physical properties to the bulk. The control of formation and functionality of these skin layers has remained elusive and is becoming increasingly critical due to device miniaturization, where the surface contribution to overall material properties becomes significant. We recently demonstrated that the distinct structural distortion of the skin layer is intimately related to the internal chemical pressure applied by oxygen vacancies and the plane stress conditions at the surface. (S.... (More)

Relaxor ferroelectrics are technologically important materials for applications in, for example, high-temperature capacitors, transducers and nano-positioning systems. These materials have often been reported to exhibit surface or skin layers with distinct physical properties to the bulk. The control of formation and functionality of these skin layers has remained elusive and is becoming increasingly critical due to device miniaturization, where the surface contribution to overall material properties becomes significant. We recently demonstrated that the distinct structural distortion of the skin layer is intimately related to the internal chemical pressure applied by oxygen vacancies and the plane stress conditions at the surface. (S. Kong, N. Kumar, S. Checchia, C. Cazorla and J. Daniels, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2019, 29, 1900344) Here, we demonstrate a unique capability to control the formation and properties of the skin layer through the control of defect concentration. Most interestingly, the skin layer is polar and both electrically and optically active, making it functional and a new candidate for low operating voltage and/or optoelectronic devices. The surface domains in the skin could be altered by applying a small voltage bias (1000 times lower than bulk) or light illumination. A reversible optical change in surface domains provides a new non-contact external control to tune the material polarisation.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Materials Chemistry C
volume
8
issue
23
pages
9 pages
publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
external identifiers
  • scopus:85086892840
ISSN
2050-7534
DOI
10.1039/d0tc01300e
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
feee5f74-8e88-4457-b9a9-a42b2bd68c55
date added to LUP
2020-07-07 14:24:05
date last changed
2022-04-18 23:20:36
@article{feee5f74-8e88-4457-b9a9-a42b2bd68c55,
  abstract     = {{<p>Relaxor ferroelectrics are technologically important materials for applications in, for example, high-temperature capacitors, transducers and nano-positioning systems. These materials have often been reported to exhibit surface or skin layers with distinct physical properties to the bulk. The control of formation and functionality of these skin layers has remained elusive and is becoming increasingly critical due to device miniaturization, where the surface contribution to overall material properties becomes significant. We recently demonstrated that the distinct structural distortion of the skin layer is intimately related to the internal chemical pressure applied by oxygen vacancies and the plane stress conditions at the surface. (S. Kong, N. Kumar, S. Checchia, C. Cazorla and J. Daniels, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2019, 29, 1900344) Here, we demonstrate a unique capability to control the formation and properties of the skin layer through the control of defect concentration. Most interestingly, the skin layer is polar and both electrically and optically active, making it functional and a new candidate for low operating voltage and/or optoelectronic devices. The surface domains in the skin could be altered by applying a small voltage bias (1000 times lower than bulk) or light illumination. A reversible optical change in surface domains provides a new non-contact external control to tune the material polarisation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kumar, Nitish and Kong, Scarlet and Sharma, Pankaj and Shi, Xi and Vats, Gaurav and Checchia, Stefano and Seidel, Jan and Hoffman, Mark and Daniels, John}},
  issn         = {{2050-7534}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{23}},
  pages        = {{7663--7671}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
  series       = {{Journal of Materials Chemistry C}},
  title        = {{Functional surface layers in relaxor ferroelectrics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d0tc01300e}},
  doi          = {{10.1039/d0tc01300e}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}