Transparent ferroelectric crystals with ultrahigh piezoelectricity

Chaorui Qiu, Bo Wang, Nan Zhang, Shujun Zhang, Jinfeng Liu, David Walker, Yu Wang, Hao Tian, Thomas R. Shrout, Zhuo Xu (), Long-Qing Chen () and Fei Li ()
Additional contact information
Chaorui Qiu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Bo Wang: The Pennsylvania State University
Nan Zhang: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Shujun Zhang: The Pennsylvania State University
Jinfeng Liu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
David Walker: University of Warwick
Yu Wang: Harbin Institute of Technology
Hao Tian: Harbin Institute of Technology
Thomas R. Shrout: The Pennsylvania State University
Zhuo Xu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Long-Qing Chen: The Pennsylvania State University
Fei Li: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Nature, 2020, vol. 577, issue 7790, 350-354

Abstract: Abstract Transparent piezoelectrics are highly desirable for numerous hybrid ultrasound–optical devices ranging from photoacoustic imaging transducers to transparent actuators for haptic applications1–7. However, it is challenging to achieve high piezoelectricity and perfect transparency simultaneously because most high-performance piezoelectrics are ferroelectrics that contain high-density light-scattering domain walls. Here, through a combination of phase-field simulations and experiments, we demonstrate a relatively simple method of using an alternating-current electric field to engineer the domain structures of originally opaque rhombohedral Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) crystals to simultaneously generate near-perfect transparency, an ultrahigh piezoelectric coefficient d33 (greater than 2,100 picocoulombs per newton), an excellent electromechanical coupling factor k33 (about 94 per cent) and a large electro-optical coefficient γ33 (approximately 220 picometres per volt), which is far beyond the performance of the commonly used transparent ferroelectric crystal LiNbO3. We find that increasing the domain size leads to a higher d33 value for the [001]-oriented rhombohedral PMN-PT crystals, challenging the conventional wisdom that decreasing the domain size always results in higher piezoelectricity8–10. This work presents a paradigm for achieving high transparency and piezoelectricity by ferroelectric domain engineering, and we expect the transparent ferroelectric crystals reported here to provide a route to a wide range of hybrid device applications, such as medical imaging, self-energy-harvesting touch screens and invisible robotic devices.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1891-y

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