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Lead‐Free Polycrystalline Ferroelectric Nanowires with Enhanced Curie Temperature
Author(s) -
Datta Anuja,
SanchezJimenez Pedro E.,
Al Orabi Rabih Al Rahal,
Calahorra Yonatan,
Ou Canlin,
Sahonta SumanLata,
Fornari Marco,
KarNarayan Sohini
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201701169
Subject(s) - materials science , curie temperature , ferroelectricity , crystallite , nanowire , fabrication , epitaxy , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , condensed matter physics , metallurgy , ferromagnetism , alternative medicine , pathology , layer (electronics) , physics , dielectric , medicine
Ferroelectrics are important technological materials with wide‐ranging applications in electronics, communication, health, and energy. While lead‐based ferroelectrics have remained the predominant mainstay of industry for decades, environmentally friendly lead‐free alternatives are limited due to relatively low Curie temperatures ( T C ) and/or high cost in many cases. Efforts have been made to enhance T C through strain engineering, often involving energy‐intensive and expensive fabrication of thin epitaxial films on lattice‐mismatched substrates. Here, a relatively simple and scalable sol–gel synthesis route to fabricate polycrystalline (Ba 0.85 Ca 0.15 )(Zr 0.1 Ti 0.9 )O 3 nanowires within porous templates is presented, with an observed enhancement of T C up to ≈300 °C as compared to ≈90 °C in the bulk. By combining experiments and theoretical calculations, this effect is attributed to the volume reduction in the template‐grown nanowires that modifies the balance between different structural instabilities. The results offer a cost‐effective solution‐based approach for strain‐tuning in a promising lead‐free ferroelectric system, thus widening their current applicability.