Motion of phase boundary during antiferroelectric-ferroelectric transition in a PbZrO3 -based ceramic

The in situ biasing transmission electron microscopy technique is employed to investigate the nucleation and growth of the ferroelectric phase during the electric field-induced phase transition in Pb0.99{Nb0.02[(Zr0.57Sn0.43)0.94Ti0.06]0.98}O3, a PbZrO3-based antiferroelectric ceramic. The first-order displacive phase transition is found to be highly reversible with the initial antiferroelectric domain configuration almost completely recovered upon removal of the applied field. In the forward transition from the antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase, {100}c facets are dominant on the phase boundary; while in the reverse transition from the ferroelectric to antiferroelectric phase during bias unloading, the phase boundary is segmented into {101}c and {121}c facets. The motion of the phase boundary is nonuniform, taking the form of sequential sweeping of facet segments. The elastic distortion energy and the depolarization energy at the antiferroelectric/ferroelectric phase boundary is suggested to dictate the facet motion.