Ideal antiferroelectricity with large digital electrostrain in PbZrO3 epitaxial thin films

Ideal antiferroelectricity with large digital electrostrain in PbZrO3 epitaxial thin films

Nature Communications

10.1038/s41467-025-59598-1

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59598-1

Yangyang Si, Ningbo Fan, Yongqi Dong, Zhen Ye, Shiqing Deng, Yijie Li, Chao Zhou, Qibin Zeng, Lu You, Yimei Zhu, Zhenlin Luo, Sujit Das, Laurent Bellaiche, Bin Xu, Huajun Liu, Zuhuang Chen

General Materials Science

08 May 2025

Si, Y., Fan, N., Dong, Y., Ye, Z., Deng, S., Li, Y., Zhou, C., Zeng, Q., You, L., Zhu, Y., Luo, Z., Das, S., Bellaiche, L., Xu, B., Liu, H., & Chen, Z. (2025). Ideal antiferroelectricity with large digital electrostrain in PbZrO3 epitaxial thin films. Nature Communications, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59598-1

Antiferroelectrics exhibit reversible antipolar-polar phase transitions under electric fields, yielding large electrostrain suitable for electromechanical devices. Nevertheless, in thin-film form, the antiferroelectric behavior is often obscured by competing ferroic orders, resulting in slanted hysteresis loops with undesired remnant polarization, subsequently posing challenges in obtaining ideal antiferroelectricity and understanding their intrinsic electrical behavior. Here, atomistic models for controllable antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transition pathways are unveiled along specific crystallographic directions. Guided by the anisotropic phase transition and orientation design, we achieved ideal antiferroelectricity with square double hysteresis loop, large saturated polarization (~60 μC/cm2), near-zero remnant polarization, fast response time (~75 ns), and near-fatigue-free performance (~1010 cycles) in (111)P-oriented PbZrO3 epitaxial thin films. Moreover, a bipolar and frequency-independent digital electrostrain (~0.83%) was demonstrated in this architype antiferroelectric system. In-situ X-ray diffraction studies further reveal that the large digital electrostrain results from an intrinsic field-induced antiferroelectric-ferroelectric structural transition. This work demonstrates the anisotropic phase transition mechanism and ideal antiferroelectricity with large digital electrostrain in antiferroelectric thin films, offering a new avenue for applications of antiferroelectricity in nanoelectromechanical systems.

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This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation - Competitive research programme
Grant Reference no. : NRF-CRP28-2022-0002

This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Manufacturing, Trade, and Connectivity Individual Research Grant
Grant Reference no. : M22K2c0084

This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Career Development Fund
Grant Reference no. : C210812020

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https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/23151

2041-1723

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59598-1