title: Facilitation of Ferroelectric Switching via Mechanical Manipulation of Hierarchical Nanoscale Domain Structures.
abstract: Heterogeneous ferroelastic transition that produces hierarchical 90° tetragonal nanodomains via mechanical loading and its effect on facilitating ferroelectric domain switching in relaxor-based ferroelectrics were explored. Combining in situ electron microscopy characterization and phase-field modeling, we reveal the nature of the transition process and discover that the transition lowers by 40% the electrical loading threshold needed for ferroelectric domain switching. Our results advance the fundamental understanding of ferroelectric domain switching behavior.
authors.affiliation: School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Zibin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Material and Device, Department of Physics, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
authors.forename: Feifei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.|Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, The University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Ringer
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Long-Qing
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Inorganic Functional Materials and Devices, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Haosu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Xiaozhou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liao