Role of Zinc and Niobium in the Giant Piezoelectric Response of PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3

Ali Al-Zein (1) , Hichem Dammak (2) , Philippe Papet (3) , Olivier Mathon (4) , Bernard Hehlen (1) , Claire Levelut (1) , Julien Haines (3) , Jerome Rouquette

1 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
2 SPMS - Laboratoire Structures, Propriétés et Modélisation des solides
3 ICGM ICMMM - Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux de Montpellier
4 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

Relaxor ferroelectric perovskites are highly polarizable and can exhibit giant coupling between elastic strain and an applied electric field. Here, we report an in situ extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) study of a PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3 (PZN) single crystal as a function of the electric field. We show that the strong dipoles in the NbO6 octahedra bonds are aligned along the four < 011 > directions close to the orientation of the electric field, while a small reversible polar shift occurs for Zn in the direction of the electric field, i.e., positive or negative. This reversible Zn-O polar shift is proposed to play an important role in both the "easy" switching of the ferroelectric polarization and the giant piezoelectric effect in PZN.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Ali Al-Zein, Hichem Dammak, Philippe Papet, Olivier Mathon, Bernard Hehlen, et al.. Role of Zinc and Niobium in the Giant Piezoelectric Response of PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3. Inorganic Chemistry, 2014, 53 (8), pp.3985. ⟨10.1021/ic402409f⟩. ⟨hal-01084087⟩