Clamping enables enhanced electromechanical responses in antiferroelectric thin films.
Nat Mater
; 23(7): 944-950, 2024 Jul.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38783106
ABSTRACT
Thin-film materials with large electromechanical responses are fundamental enablers of next-generation micro-/nano-electromechanical applications. Conventional electromechanical materials (for example, ferroelectrics and relaxors), however, exhibit severely degraded responses when scaled down to submicrometre-thick films due to substrate constraints (clamping). This limitation is overcome, and substantial electromechanical responses in antiferroelectric thin films are achieved through an unconventional coupling of the field-induced antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric phase transition and the substrate constraints. A detilting of the oxygen octahedra and lattice-volume expansion in all dimensions are observed commensurate with the phase transition using operando electron microscopy, such that the in-plane clamping further enhances the out-of-plane expansion, as rationalized using first-principles calculations. In turn, a non-traditional thickness scaling is realized wherein an electromechanical strain (1.7%) is produced from a model antiferroelectric PbZrO3 film that is just 100 nm thick. The high performance and understanding of the mechanism provide a promising pathway to develop high-performance micro-/nano-electromechanical systems.
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Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
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En
Revista:
Nat Mater
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIA
/
QUIMICA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos