Phase Diagram of a Strained Ferroelectric Nanowire

Abstract

Ferroelectric materials manifest unique dielectric, ferroelastic, and piezoelectric properties. A targeted design of ferroelectrics at the nanoscale is not only of fundamental appeal but holds the highest potential for applications. Compared to two-dimensional nanostructures such as thin films and superlattices, one-dimensional ferroelectric nanowires are investigated to a much lesser extent. Here, we reveal a variety of the topological polarization states, particularly the vortex and helical chiral phases, in loaded ferroelectric nanowires, which enable us to complete the strain–temperature phase diagram of the one-dimensional ferroelectrics. These phases are of prime importance for optoelectronics and quantum communication technologies.

Revealing the three-dimensional arrangement of polar topology in nanoparticles

“…2 and 3 ) reveals that areas with low tetragonality (i.e., c / a ratio being close to 1) can also exhibit large Ti atomic displacement and resulting polarization. In nanostructured ferroelectric systems, unlike in bulk materials, an unusually strong atomic displacement has been observed in previous studies, and it does not always correlate with the tetragonality or c -axis orientations, consistent with our findings 44 – 46 .…”

Theory of density waves and organization of proteins in icosahedral virus capsids

“…Within this approach, many interesting structural phase transitions have been studied. For example, Landau theory has allowed to explain the existence and stability of such remarkable objects as quasicrystals, [20][21][22][23] phase diagrams and properties of various ferroelectric materials, [24][25][26] as well as ordering features in different liquid crystal phases. 27 Within the framework of Landau theory, the self-assembly of icosahedral protein shells of small spherical viruses was also considered.…”

Vortex states in a PbTiO$_3$ ferroelectric cylinder

“…Hence, the polarization structuring with div P = 0 is the principal topological constraint in ferroelectrics [5,6]. Vortices are the representative example of such formations, most commonly observed in ferroelectrics [7][8][9][10][11][12]. The objective of this paper is to give an insight into the emergence of vortices in nanocylinders of ferroelectric oxides with cubic crystal symmetry.…”