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The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) is unique in translating fundamental scientific discoveries into scalable technology adoption. Our approach combines an understanding of the marketplace and the role of state and federal regulation and policies. ETA's research drives real-world, practical results that affect and improve the everyday lives of Americans and those across the globe. Saving energy and increasing resilience are key to the foundation of our research, which is driven by technoeconomic analysis and in-lab experimentation and discovery.

A strain-driven morphotropic phase boundary in bifeO3

Publication Type

Journal Article

Authors

Zeches, R.J, M.D Rossell, J.X Zhang, A.J Hatt, Q He, C.-H Yang, A Kumar, C.H Wang, A Melville, C Adamo, G Sheng, Y.-H Chu, J.F Ihlefeld, R Erni, C Ederer, V Gopalan, L.Q Chen, D.G Schldin, N.A Spaldin, L.W Martin, Ramamoorthy Ramesh

DOI

10.1126/science.1177046

Abstract

Piezoelectric materials, which convert mechanical to electrical energy and vice versa, are typically characterized by the intimate coexistence of two phases across a morphotropic phase boundary. Electrically switching one to the other yields large electromechanical coupling coefficients. Driven by global environmental concerns, there is currently a strong push to discover practical lead-free piezoelectrics for device engineering. Using a combination of epitaxial growth techniques in conjunction with theoretical approaches, we show the formation of a morphotropic phase boundary through epitaxial constraint in lead-free piezoelectric bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) films. Electric field-dependent studies show that a tetragonal-like phase can be reversibly converted into a rhombohedral-like phase, accompanied by measurable displacements of the surface, making this new lead-free system of interest for probe-based data storage and actuator applications.

Journal

Science

Volume

326

Year of Publication

2009

ISSN

00368075

Notes

cited By 780

Research Areas

Ramesh Lab