Authors: H T Chen A K Soh Y Ni
Publish Date: 2014/01/09
Volume: 225, Issue: 4-5, Pages: 1323-1333
Abstract
The flexoelectric effect which is defined as the coupling between strain gradient and polarization has long been neglected because it is insignificant in bulk ferroelectrics However at nanoscale the strain gradient can be dramatically increased leading to giant flexoelectric effects In the present study the flexoelectric effects in epitaxial nano thin films of a 180° multidomain structure which are subjected to a compressive inplane misfit strain are investigated by the phase field method Unlike the case of a single domain structure where the strain gradient is mainly attributed to the formation of dislocation which relaxes the misfit strain in a multidomain structure it is attributed to many factors such as surface and interface effects misfit relaxation and domain wall structure The results obtained show that relatively large flexoelectricityinduced electric fields are produced near the domain wall region The induced field will not only influence the domain structure of the thin film but also the hysteresis loops when it is under an applied electric field
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