Ge, W., Beanland, R., Alexe, M. et al. (2 more authors) (2023) 180° head-to-head flat domain walls in single crystal BiFeO3. Microstructures, 3. 2023026. ISSN 2770-2995
Abstract
We investigate flux-grown BiFeO3 crystals using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This material has an intriguing ferroelectric structure of domain walls with a period of approximately 100 nm, alternating between flat and sawtooth morphologies. We show that all domain walls are of 180° type and that the flat walls, lying on (112) planes, are reconstructed with an excess of Fe and a deficiency of Bi. This reconstruction is similar to that observed in several previous studies of deposited layers of BiFeO3. The negative charge of the reconstructed layer induces head-to-head polarisation in the surrounding material and a rigid-body shift of one domain relative to the other. These characteristics pin the flat 180° domain walls and determine the domain structure of the material. Sawtooth 180° domain walls provide the necessary reversal of polarisation between flat walls. The high density of immobile domain walls suppresses the ferroelectric properties of the material, highlighting the need for careful control of growth conditions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Bismuth ferrite, ferroelectric domains, 180° domain walls, reconstructed domain walls |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/W021080/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Apr 2024 10:12 |
Last Modified: | 16 Apr 2024 10:12 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | OAE Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.20517/microstructures.2023.13 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:211529 |