Print Email Facebook Twitter Enabling nanoscale flexoelectricity at extreme temperature by tuning cation diffusion Title Enabling nanoscale flexoelectricity at extreme temperature by tuning cation diffusion Author Molina-Luna, Leopoldo (Technische Universität Darmstadt) Wang, Shuai (Technische Universität Darmstadt) Pivak, Yevheniy (DENSsolutions) Zintler, Alexander (Technische Universität Darmstadt) Perez Garza, H.H. (DENSsolutions) Spruit, R.G. (DENSsolutions) Xu, Q. (TU Delft QN/Zandbergen Lab; DENSsolutions; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft) Yi, Min (Technische Universität Darmstadt) Xu, Bai Xiang (Technische Universität Darmstadt) Acosta, Matias (Technische Universität Darmstadt) Date 2018 Abstract Any dielectric material under a strain gradient presents flexoelectricity. Here, we synthesized 0.75 sodium bismuth titanate −0.25 strontium titanate (NBT-25ST) core–shell nanoparticles via a solid-state chemical reaction directly inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and observed domain-like nanoregions (DLNRs) up to an extreme temperature of 800 °C. We attribute this abnormal phenomenon to a chemically induced lattice strain gradient present in the core–shell nanoparticle. The strain gradient was generated by controlling the diffusion of strontium cations. By combining electrical biasing and temperature-dependent in situ TEM with phase field simulations, we analyzed the resulting strain gradient and local polarization distribution within a single nanoparticle. The analysis confirms that a local symmetry breaking, occurring due to a strain gradient (i.e. flexoelectricity), accounts for switchable polarization beyond the conventional temperature range of existing polar materials. We demonstrate that polar nanomaterials can be obtained through flexoelectricity at extreme temperature by tuning the cation diffusion. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0c630414-d76f-466c-a2de-3de526766ea7 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06959-8 ISSN 2041-1723 Source Nature Communications, 9 (1) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2018 Leopoldo Molina-Luna, Shuai Wang, Yevheniy Pivak, Alexander Zintler, H.H. Perez Garza, R.G. Spruit, Q. Xu, Min Yi, Bai Xiang Xu, Matias Acosta Files PDF s41467_018_06959_8.pdf 4.16 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:0c630414-d76f-466c-a2de-3de526766ea7/datastream/OBJ/view