TY - JOUR
T1 - Well-defined double hysteresis loop in NaNbO3 antiferroelectrics
AU - Luo, Nengneng
AU - Ma, Li
AU - Luo, Gengguang
AU - Xu, Chao
AU - Rao, Lixiang
AU - Chen, Zhengu
AU - Cen, Zhenyong
AU - Feng, Qin
AU - Chen, Xiyong
AU - Toyohisa, Fujita
AU - Zhu, Ye
AU - Hong, Jiawang
AU - Li, Jing Feng
AU - Zhang, Shujun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Antiferroelectrics (AFEs) are promising candidates in energy-storage capacitors, electrocaloric solid-cooling, and displacement transducers. As an actively studied lead-free antiferroelectric (AFE) material, NaNbO3 has long suffered from its ferroelectric (FE)-like polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops with high remnant polarization and large hysteresis. Guided by theoretical calculations, a new strategy of reducing the oxygen octahedral tilting angle is proposed to stabilize the AFE P phase (Space group Pbma) of NaNbO3. To validate this, we judiciously introduced CaHfO3 with a low Goldschmidt tolerance factor and AgNbO3 with a low electronegativity difference into NaNbO3, the decreased cation displacements and [BO6] octahedral tilting angles were confirmed by Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Of particular importance is that the 0.75NaNbO3−0.20AgNbO3−0.05CaHfO3 ceramic exhibits highly reversible phase transition between the AFE and FE states, showing well-defined double P-E loops and sprout-shaped strain-electric field curves with reduced hysteresis, low remnant polarization, high AFE-FE phase transition field, and zero negative strain. Our work provides a new strategy for designing NaNbO3-based AFE material with well-defined double P-E loops, which can also be extended to discover a variety of new lead-free AFEs.
AB - Antiferroelectrics (AFEs) are promising candidates in energy-storage capacitors, electrocaloric solid-cooling, and displacement transducers. As an actively studied lead-free antiferroelectric (AFE) material, NaNbO3 has long suffered from its ferroelectric (FE)-like polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops with high remnant polarization and large hysteresis. Guided by theoretical calculations, a new strategy of reducing the oxygen octahedral tilting angle is proposed to stabilize the AFE P phase (Space group Pbma) of NaNbO3. To validate this, we judiciously introduced CaHfO3 with a low Goldschmidt tolerance factor and AgNbO3 with a low electronegativity difference into NaNbO3, the decreased cation displacements and [BO6] octahedral tilting angles were confirmed by Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Of particular importance is that the 0.75NaNbO3−0.20AgNbO3−0.05CaHfO3 ceramic exhibits highly reversible phase transition between the AFE and FE states, showing well-defined double P-E loops and sprout-shaped strain-electric field curves with reduced hysteresis, low remnant polarization, high AFE-FE phase transition field, and zero negative strain. Our work provides a new strategy for designing NaNbO3-based AFE material with well-defined double P-E loops, which can also be extended to discover a variety of new lead-free AFEs.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151316322&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-37469-x
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-37469-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 36997552
AN - SCOPUS:85151316322
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 1776
ER -