Understanding thermal hysteresis of ferroelectric phase transitions in BaTiO₃ with combined first-principle-based approach and phase-field model

Based on the principles of thermodynamics, we elucidate the fundamental reasons behind the hysteresis of spontaneous polarization in ferroelectric materials during heating and cooling processes. By utilizing the effective Hamiltonian method in conjuction with the phase-field model, we have successfully reproduced the thermal hysteresis observed in ferroelectric materials during phase transitions. The computational results regarding the electrocaloric effect from these two different computational scales closely align with experimental measurements. Furthermore, we analyze how the first-order ferroelectric phase transition gradually diminishes with an increasing applied electric field, exhibiting characteristics of second-order-like phase transition. By employing the characteristic parameters of thermal hysteresis, we have established a pathway for calculations across different computational scales, thereby providing theoretical support for further investigations into the properties of ferroelectric materials through concurrent multiscale simulations.