No abstract

No abstract

The unconventional Si-compatible ferroelectricity in hafnia-based systems, which becomes robust only at nanoscopic sizes, has attracted a lot of interest. While a metastable polar orthorhombic (o-) phase ( Pca21) is widely regarded as the responsible phase for ferroelectricity, a higher energy polar rhombohedral (r-) phase is recently reported on epitaxial HfZrO4 (HZO) films grown on (001) SrTiO3 (R3m or R3), (0001) GaN (R3), and Si (111). Armed with results on these systems, here we report a systematic study leading towards identifying comprehensive global trends for stabilizing r-phase polymorphs in epitaxially grown HZO thin films (6 nm) on various substrates (perovskites, hexagonal and Si).

Novel core/shell structured multi-walled carbon nanotube/amorphous carbon (MWCNT@AC) nanohybrids were successfully prepared using a simple and novel method. Subsequently, the MWCNT@AC nanohybrids were used as fillers to enhance the dielectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) based composites. It is found that the dielectric constant of the MWCNT@AC/PVDF composites can reach 5910 (the dielectric loss is ∼2), which is considerably better than that of MWCNT/PVDF composites. The uniform amorphous carbon shell provides an insulative layer between adjacent MWCNTs in the polymer matrix, which not only prevents the direct contact of MWCNTs but also improves the dispersibility of the MWCNTs. Therefore, a surprising number of microcapacitors could be formed in the composites before the formation of a conductive network, leading to a gigantic enhancement in the dielectric properties. Our strategy provides a new approach to fabricate excellent dielectric materials for energy storage capacitors. In addition, the design concept used in this work can be extended to other carbon materials.