Low voltage–driven high-performance thermal switching in antiferroelectric PbZrO ₃ thin films

Abstract

Effective control of heat transfer is vital for energy saving and carbon emission reduction. In contrast to achievements in electrical conduction, active control of heat transfer is much more challenging. Ferroelectrics are promising candidates for thermal switching as a result of their tunable domain structures. However, switching ratios in ferroelectrics are low (<1.2). We report that high-quality antiferroelectric PbZrO 3 epitaxial thin films exhibit high-contrast (>2.2), fast-speed (<150 nanoseconds), and long-lifetime (>10 7 ) thermal switching under a small voltage (<10 V). In situ reciprocal space mapping and atomistic modelings reveal that the field-driven antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transition induces a substantial change of primitive cell size, which modulates phonon-phonon scattering phase space drastically and results in high switching ratio. These results advance the concept of thermal transport control in ferroic materials.

Antiferroelectric oxide thin-films: Fundamentals, properties, and applications

“…1, with a focus on their chronological development. This figure provides a comprehensive overview of the significant milestones and breakthroughs in AFE research, highlighting the key findings and discoveries that have shaped our understanding of the materials [6,[8][9][10][11]24,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. The first AFE, PbZrO 3 , is discovered in the early 1950s [46].…”

“…These discoveries provide an alternative avenue to explore the origin of antiferroelectricity and the interplay of competing order parameters in these materials, which were previously known for their FE properties. Meanwhile, recent advances in thin-film synthesis and characterization techniques have also facilitated the development of novel devices, including above-bandgap photo-voltages [60], four-state random access memories [8], negative capacitance [44,61], thermal switches [9,45] and pulsed power capacitors [62]. Alongside the discovery of new material systems, there is a growing diversity of perspectives regarding the mechanisms underlying antiferroelectricity.…”

“…To electrically control thermal switching, various material is proposed with different origins [427,428]. Solid-state thermal conductivity switching has been reported in PbZrO 3 thin films recently by Liu et al [9], as shown in Fig. 15c.…”

“…With the slowing down on the development of conventional microelectronics, the merits of AFE thin films gradually appear in the public vision for their exceptional performance in various electronic devices. This includes electrocaloric [5] and electrostrain devices [6], energy storage capacitors [7], memories [8], thermal switches [9], and photovoltaics [10], which promote the prosperity of present AFE thin films research. As a result, AFE thin films have become an important branch of ferroic materials due to their diverse range of properties that are tunable between different states.…”

“…1. Key progress in the development history of AFEs [6,[8][9][10][11]24,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45].…”