Mechanical-force-induced non-local collective ferroelastic switching in epitaxial lead-titanate thin films.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31477695.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11825-2 and PMC identifier 6718682.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Ferroelastic switching in ferroelectric/multiferroic oxides plays a crucial role in determining their dielectric, piezoelectric, and magnetoelectric properties. In thin films of these materials, however, substrate clamping is generally thought to limit the electric-field- or mechanical-force-driven responses to the local scale. Here, we report mechanical-force-induced large-area, non-local, collective ferroelastic domain switching in PbTiO<sub>3</sub> epitaxial thin films by tuning the misfit-strain to be near a phase boundary wherein c/a and a<sub>1</sub>/a<sub>2</sub> nanodomains coexist. Phenomenological models suggest that the collective, c-a-c-a ferroelastic switching arises from the small potential barrier between the degenerate domain structures, and the large anisotropy of a and c domains, which collectively generates much larger response and large-area domain propagation. Large-area, non-local response under small stimuli, unlike traditional local response to external field, provides an opportunity of unique response to local stimuli, which has potential for use in high-sensitivity pressure sensors and switches.