Control of polarization in bulk ferroelectrics by mechanical dislocation imprint
Marion Höfling, Xiandong Zhou, Lukas M. Riemer, Enrico Bruder, Binzhi Liu, Lin Zhou, Pedro B. Groszewicz, Fangping Zhuo, Bai‐Xiang Xu, Karsten Durst, Xiaoli Tan, Dragan Damjanović, Jurij Koruza, Jürgen Rödel
Abstract
Imprinting oxides Dislocations can be problematic for the properties of functional oxides and are often avoided as a result. Höfling et al. found that introducing a network of dislocations to barium titanate actually enhanced the dielectric and piezoelectric properties. The authors introduced the dislocation network with uniaxial compression, which forced the material to have a domain structure that enhanced the piezoelectric coefficient by a factor of 19. This strategy should be a useful tool for optimizing properties of other functional oxides. Science , abe3810, this issue p. 961