Collective dipole behavior and unusual morphotropic phase boundary in ferroelectric Pb(Zr(0.5)Ti(0.5))O3 nanowires

Xiujun Fu; Ivan I Naumov; Huaxiang Fu

doi:10.1021/nl303749q

Collective dipole behavior and unusual morphotropic phase boundary in ferroelectric Pb(Zr(0.5)Ti(0.5))O3 nanowires

Nano Lett. 2013 Feb 13;13(2):491-6. doi: 10.1021/nl303749q. Epub 2013 Jan 2.

Authors

Xiujun Fu¹, Ivan I Naumov, Huaxiang Fu

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.

PMID: 23256599
DOI: 10.1021/nl303749q

Abstract

Dipole collective behavior and phase transition in ferroelectric (FE) Pb(Zr(0.5)Ti(0.5))O(3) nanowires, caused by modulated electric fields, are reported. Our result also leads to the finding of a rather outstanding electromechanical d(31) response in a 8.4 nm diameter PZT wire, which may potentially outperform bulk PMN-PT and PZN-PT. Moreover, we further demonstrate the existence of a new type of morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) that bridges two dissimilar structure phases of different order parameters. Microscopic insights for understanding the collective behavior and the structural phase within the new MPB are provided.