Ultrahigh electromechanical response from competing ferroic orders

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lin, Baichen; Ong, Khuong Phuong; Yang, Tiannan; Zeng, Qibin; Hui, Hui Kim; Ye, Zhen; Sim, Celine; Yen, Zhihao; Yang, Ping; Dou, Yanxin; Li, Xiaolong; Gao, Xingyu; Tan, Chee Kiang Ivan; Lim, Zhi Shiuh; Zeng, Shengwei; Luo, Tiancheng; Xu, Jinlong; Tong, Xin; Li, Patrick Wen Feng; Ren, Minqin; Zeng, Kaiyang; Sun, Chengliang; Ramakrishna, Seeram; Breese, Mark B. H.; Boothroyd, Chris; Lee, Chengkuo; Singh, David J.; Lam, Yeng Ming; Liu, Huajun
• 署名单位: Agency for Science Technology & Research (A*STAR); A*STAR - Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE); Nanyang Technological University; Agency for Science Technology & Research (A*STAR); A*STAR - Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC); Shanghai Jiao Tong University; National University of Singapore; National University of Singapore; National University of Singapore; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, CAS; National University of Singapore; Wuhan University; Nanyang Technological University; University of Missouri System; University of Missouri Columbia
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-3911
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07917-9
• 发表日期: 2024-09-26
• 页码: 798-+
• 关键词: ferroelectric phase-transition; thin-films; giant piezoelectricity; strain; simulation; ceramics; BOUNDARY; crystals

摘要

Materials with electromechanical coupling are essential for transducers and acoustic devices as reversible converters between mechanical and electrical energy(1-6). High electromechanical responses are typically found in materials with strong structural instabilities, conventionally achieved by two strategies-morphotropic phase boundaries(7) and nanoscale structural heterogeneity(8). Here we demonstrate a different strategy to accomplish ultrahigh electromechanical response by inducing extreme structural instability from competing antiferroelectric and ferroelectric orders. Guided by the phase diagram and theoretical calculations, we designed the coexistence of antiferroelectric orthorhombic and ferroelectric rhombohedral phases in sodium niobate thin films. These films show effective piezoelectric coefficients above 5,000 pm V-1 because of electric-field-induced antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transitions. Our results provide a general approach to design and exploit antiferroelectric materials for electromechanical devices.