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Antiferroelectric and ferroelectric materials are prominent non-linear dielectric materials with significant applications across various fields. To fully understand their electrical properties, it is crucial to accurately discriminate the two phases, especially in compositions with the coexistence of antiferroelectric and ferroelectric phases. In this study, we propose an easy method for differentiating domain structures from phase coexistence based on split outskirt reflections. The proposed method addresses existing limitations in the spatial phase distribution and lays the groundwork for understanding their structure–property relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbZrO3 has been broadly considered as a prototypical antiferroelectric material for high-power energy storage. A recent theoretical study suggests that the ground state of PbZrO3 is threefold-modulated ferrielectric, which challenges the generally accepted antiferroelectric configuration. However, such a novel ferrielectric phase was predicted only to be accessible at low temperatures. Here, we successfully achieve the room-temperature construction of the strongly competing ferrielectric and antiferroelectric state by strain-mediated phase separation in PbZrO3/SrTiO3 thin film. We demonstrate that the phase separation occurs spontaneously in quasi-periodic stripe-like patterns under a compressive misfit strain and can be tailored by varying the film thickness. The ferrielectric phase strikingly exhibitsa threefold modulation period with a nearly up-up-down configuration, which could be stabilized and manipulated by the formation and evolution of interfacial defects under applied strain. The present results construct a fertile ground for further exploring the physical properties and applications based on the novel ferrielectric phase. There is a desire to know how the threefold ferrielectric coexists with the antiferroelectric phase. Here, the authors realize a threefold-modulated ferrielectric phase regulated by strain-mediated phase separation in PbZrO3 thin film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the behavior of electric-field induced antiferroelectric to ferroelectric (AFE-FE) phase transition that determines the specific application scenario of antiferroelectric materials. Here, we report that the evolution of the atomic displacement ordering from full-ordered to semi-ordered modulation should be responsible for the change in the behavior of the AFE-FE transition from sharp to diffuse. The novel semi-ordered configuration is originated from the competing interaction between long-range displacement modulation and compositional inhomogeneity, which just makes the AFE-FE transition diffuse but maintains the switching field. These results provide atomic-scale understanding for AFE-FE transition and new insights for designing hysteresis-free antiferroelectric materials. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead-free antiferroelectric materials can be used in environmental-friendly energy applications and are receiving tremendous attention owing to their high energy-storage density, which is achieved through a phase transition between antiferroelectric and ferroelectric state. Here, by slowing down the antiferroelectric-ferroelectric transition via controllable beam irradiation in a transmission electron microscope, we demonstrate that such a transition in NaNbO 3 undergoes by means of forming a buffer-area (about 40–150 nm wide) at the on-going transition front. The spatial buffer-area approximately maintains its shape during moving and are characterized to be the antiferroelectric phase but exhibits a gradual variation of lattice spacing along the [010] proceeding direction of phase transition. With help of such buffer-area, the overall stress or barrier between the two phases could be considerably reduced compared to the direct change between the two structures. Therefore, our findings provide new insights for understanding the dynamical energy-storage process in antiferroelectric materials. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]