Huge enhancement of electromechanical responses in compositionally modulated Pb(Zr(1-x )Tix)O3.
Monte Carlo simulations based on a first-principles-derived Hamiltonian are conducted to study the properties of Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 alloys compositionally modulated along the [100] pseudocubic direction near the morphotropic phase boundary. It is shown that compositional modulation causes the polarization to continuously rotate away from the modulation direction, resulting in the unexpected triclinic and C-type monoclinic ground states and huge enhancement of electromechanical responses (the peak of piezoelectric coefficient is as high as 30,000 pC/N). The orientation dependence of dipole-dipole interaction in modulated structure is revealed as the microscopic mechanism to be responsible for these anomalies.
Huang
Ningdong
N
Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Liu
Zhirong
Z
Wu
Zhongqing
Z
Wu
Jian
J
Duan
Wenhui
W
Gu
Bing-Lin
BL
Zhang
Xiao-Wen
XW