Field and Frequency Dependence of the Dynamic Hysteresis in Lead Zirconate Titanate Solid Solutions

Abstract

Dynamic hysteresis of Nb‐doped Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 (PZT, 0.20 ≤ x ≤ 0.60) ceramics were studied systemically at different field (E) and frequency (f). The hysteresis loops were strongly dependent on E and f. The measured coercive fields (Ec0) were far lower than the calculated values based on the Landau–Ginzburg theory, and increased dramatically from the rhombohedral phase to the tetragonal phase while had less variation with composition in the same phase. With increasing E or f for each composition, three types of loops were observed: linear, minor, and saturated loops. The cross fields (E0), cross polarizations (P0), and hysteresis areas (<A>) showed different variation regularities with f. Similar varying curves were observed for all PZT ceramic samples by normalizing E0, P0, and <A> with E/Ec0, which indicated the same polarization switching for different domain structures. Further analyses revealed that the switching processes can be divided into three stages: space charge polarization, domain switching, and steady state. The first and second stage occurred at ~0.5 and ~1.5 E/Ec0, respectively. These results would be very helpful to further understand the polarization switching of ferroelectric ceramics.

Intrinsic versus extrinsic effects of the grain boundary on the properties of ferroelectric nanoceramics

“…On top of that, a consistent characterization system must be implemented for the analysis. It has been demonstrated that the properties of ferroelectric ceramics are also frequency-sensitive [19,20]. The applied field with varied frequencies will significantly affect the measured effective properties.…”

Improvement of the recoverable energy storage density and efficiency by utilizing the linear dielectric response in ferroelectric capacitors

“…4,14 In some cases, high RES density was achieved at the expense of efficiency, 3,10 because the materials had high P r values and exhibited strong hysteresis behaviors, similar to the case for many ferroelectric materials under a strong electric field. 15,16 Additionally, it can be seen from Figure 1 that if the dielectric strength is not high enough, the linear dielectric response will not be fully utilized in ferroelectrics. In this study, we demonstrated that large W rec and g can be achieved at the same time by taking full advantage of the linear dielectric response of film ferroelectric capacitors.…”

Temperature‐Dependent Scaling Behavior of Dynamic Hysteresis in Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Ceramics

“…The temperature‐independent scaling behavior may be related with the unchanged polarization switching mechanism in the testing temperature range. In ferroelectric materials, the polarization switching undergoes successively three stages: space charge polarization, domain switching and steady state with increasing E 0 , which includes nucleation of new domains, domain growth, and domain wall movement, either for rhombohedral phase or for tetragonal phase . These three stages correspond to low‐ E 0 , media‐ E 0 , and high‐ E 0 , respectively.…”