Zr-rich PZT is one of the most representative materials with compositions located at the ferroelectric–antiferroelectric (FE–AFE) phase boundary. The study of its incommensurately modulated structure (IMS) is of fundamental importance in understanding the origin of its high-performance stored-energy properties and phase transformation between FE and AFE. In this study, the structural features of the IMS were investigated in detail by transmission electron microscopy. The IMS appears as submicron domains assembled by periodic arrays of two-dimensional nanodomains along a <111> direction with the domain width of about 30 {111} spacings. The nanodomains have dual attributes of both antiphase domains and electric domains. The displacement vector across the periodic antiphase boundaries was determined to be R = [001]. The reciprocal lattice of IMS was constructed and characterized by a set of strong basic reflections of pseudocubic unit cell together with 1/2­{ooe} superlattice reflections where 1/2­(ooe) superlattice reflections (located on the (001) reciprocal planes) do not split, while both 1/2­(eoo) and 1/2­(oeo) superlattice reflections (located on (100) and (010) reciprocal planes, respectively) split. In addition, the growth process of IMS and the visibility conditions for the periodic nanodomains and superlattice reflections splitting are presented.

Phase boundary provides a fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena and understanding order parameters couplings in condensed-matter physics. In Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3, there are two types of composition-dependent phase boundary with both technological and scientific importance, i.e. morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) separating polar regimes into different symmetry and ferroelectric/antiferroelectric (FE/AFE) phase boundary dividing polar and antipolar dipole configurations. In contrast with extensive studies on MPB, FE/AFE phase boundary is far less explored. Here, we apply atomic-scale imaging and Rietveld refinement to directly demonstrate the intermediate phase at FE/AFE phase boundary exhibits a rare multipolar Pb-cations ordering, i.e. coexistence of antipolar or polar displacement, which manifests itself in both periodically gradient lattice spacing and anomalous initial hysteresis loop. In-situ electron/neutron diffraction reveals that the same parent intermediate phase can transform into either FE or AFE state depending on suppression of antipolar or polar displacement, coupling with the evolution of long-/short-range oxygen octahedra tilts. First-principle calculations further show that the transition between AFE and FE phase can occur in a low-energy pathway via the intermediate phase. These findings enrich the structural understanding of FE/AFE phase boundary in perovskite oxides.

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