Nanosized Multistate Configurations of Relaxor-Like Antiferroelectric Revealed by Atomic-Scale In Situ Electron Microscopy.

Abstract

Antiferroelectric materials have garnered significant attention for their potential applications in high-power capacitors. Among the four technically important types of ferroelectric states-classical ferroelectric, relaxor ferroelectric, antiferroelectric, and relaxor antiferroelectric-the first three have well-defined physical pictures, while the fourth remains contentious. Here, atomic-scale in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy is demonstrated to provide a clear resolution to this long-standing issue. The temperature-dependent configurational evolution during the transition from room-temperature classical antiferroelectric to high-temperature relaxor-like antiferroelectric in (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O₃ materials is directly observed. The nanosized multistate configurations formed during transformation, which encompass antiferroelectric, quasi-paraelectric, and ferroelectric nanoregions, are responsible for the slim double hysteresis loops characteristic of relaxor-like antiferroelectric. These findings offer new guidelines for validating the physical models essential for the development of high-performance relaxor-like antiferroelectrics.