Thermo-electromechanical response of a ferroelectric perovskite from molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

Based on a shell model potential obtained from first principles calculations, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the electromechanical response of a ferroelectric perovskite under finite temperature and electric field. We characterize the switching paths by which a homogeneous polarization reorientation process would take place in the prototypical ferroelectric PbTiO3. We observe the hysteresis loop and butterfly electric-strain curve and obtain finite temperature piezoelectric coefficients in good agreement with experiments.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 03, 2011
Source ID
10.1063/1.3646377

Entities

People

  • R. E. Cohen
  • Xiaowei Zeng

Organizations

  • Carnegie Institution for Science
  • Office of Naval Research
  • University of Texas at San Antonio

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Materials Science and Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems