Topological vortex structure and piezoelectric enhancements in low dimensional ferroelectrics
Abstract
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute propose to study the topological ferroelectric vortex structure and the emergence of large piezoelectric coefficients in low dimensional piezoelectrics by (i) developing novel coherent synchrotron probes in consort with first principles computations to spatially resolve, in-operando, in three dimension the evolution of local strain in BaTiO3 nanocrystals; (ii) develop a new paradigm to design and optically control ferroelectrics using ultrafast pulsed lasers. Piezoelectrics such as Lead-based zirconate titanate exhibit their best performance, at the morphotropic phase boundary composition and have been widely studied. Due to environmental concerns, lead-based materials are being replaced by benign lead-free alternatives. However, the piezoelectric response of lead-free materials lags significantly behind those of lead-based ones. Piezoelectric are exploited in a wide range of applications such as actuators, relays, and sensors. In most of these applications, the sensitivity of the device relies on the magnitude of piezoelectric response (coefficient). Recently, large d33 approximate 700 pC-N have been observed in BT-based solid solutions such as (Ba, Ca)(Zr, Ti)O3, (Ba, Ca)(Sn, Ti)O3, and (Ba, Ca)(Hf, Ti)O3 designed upon a triple-point morphotropic phase boundary concept. In such materials, the compositional phase diagram alone provides a daunting task to understand how to optimize composition as a function of thermodynamic parameters and electric field to harvest large d33. Recent studies suggest that in BT-based solid solutions, the average values of measured d33 fall in the range of 50 to 700 pC-N.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 06, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310325
Entities
People
- Fohtung Edwin
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- United States Air Force