Bi-component symbiotic crystal

Abstract

Compositional gradient ferroelectric materials can significantly influence both the microstructure and macro-electrical properties by introducing strain gradients. In this work, we design and fabricate bi-component symbiotic KTa1–xNbxO3 single crystals via growing at the liquid level using the top-seeded solution growth method. The bi-compositions lead to an integration of two sets of phase transition temperatures, coercive fields, and lattice parameters, etc. Interestingly, the polarization microscopy and piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) results show that domain structures are coherent across the boundary. In addition, there are large flexoelectric fields (Eflexo) at the boundary, which can impact the polarization orientation and electric properties. Thus, the special crystal system provides some potential insights, such as the fabrication of both ferroelectric and metal materials and also the design and manufacture of piezoelectric and optical functional materials.