Domain morphology controlled crystal habits in PbTiO3 nanocrystals

A logical explanation of structurally unfit X-ray diffraction peaks in nanoferroelectrics

“…It shows dark and moderately bright islands, which are extended along approximately horizontal direction of the observed plane. Similar kinds of situation are already discussed in our previous paper [11], according to which these islands are antiparallel or 180 o domains with directions of polarization P s along Z -axis, as marked by arrows. The area under the field of view is a pseudocubic (100) surface.…”

“…All these studied compounds bear tetragonal phases, which are acentric in nature and also possess domain structures; therefore, they are ferroelectric in nature. Ferroelectricity in these compounds was studied earlier by us [9,11,12].…”

“…Trial ferroelectric compounds used for the study are prototype BaTiO 3 and PbTiO 3 , and 'relaxor'-type Sr 0.5 Ba 0.5 Nb 2 O 6 . Synthesis techniques, XRD characterization, morphology of the nanoparticles and nanodomain structures of these compounds have been already studied by us, recently [9,11,12]. For the present study, XRD patterns of all three compounds obtained using an X-ray diffractometer (D8 Advance, Bruker, Germany) at wavelength 1.54 Å in the range of 2θ = 20−50 o were used.…”

“…At the end of last century, Zhong et al [3], Chattopadhyay et al [4] and Sun et al [5] reported that the ferroelectric behaviour disappears when the size of the particles reduces to a nanoscale. Although at later stages such problems were resolved by means of many experimental studies [6][7][8][9][10][11][12], progress lagged. Another problem that creates some kinds of hurdles for researchers in the field of nanoferroelectrics is the presence of unknown diffraction peaks in powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern.…”

“…Another problem that creates some kinds of hurdles for researchers in the field of nanoferroelectrics is the presence of unknown diffraction peaks in powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern. We also experienced such problems in BaTiO 3 and PbTiO 3 nanoparticles [9,11]. Up to the limited value of relative intensity, such peaks can be ignored just by stating 'insignificant minor peaks due to weak unknown phase or impurity'.…”