Vortices and antivortices in antiferroelectric PbZrO3
Liu, Ying (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Zhang, Huazhang (Wuhan University of Technology)
Shapovalov, Konstantin (Université de Liège)
Niu, Ranming (The University of Sydney)
Cairney, Julie M. (The University of Sydney)
Liao, Xiaozhou (The University of Sydney)
Roleder, Krystian (University of Silesia)
Majchrowski, Andrzej (Military University of Technology)
Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Ghosez, Philippe (Université de Liège)
Catalan, Gustau (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	Ferroelectric materials are characterized by a parallel arrangement of electric dipoles, but at the nanoscale they can present vortices and other non-trivial topological structures that combine small size and topological protection, rendering them functionally attractive. The driving force for the appearance of vortices in ferroelectrics is the need to minimize the depolarizing fields at interfaces; by making the polarization rotate, depolarization fields vanish. Antiferroelectrics, by contrast, are defined by an antiparallel arrangement of electric dipoles. A priori, therefore, they lack the depolarization fields that drive the appearance of non-trivial topologies in ferroelectrics. At the atomic scale of the dipoles, however, we find that polar discontinuities can still happen, driving the appearance of topological singularities at ferroelastic domain walls.
Grants:	European Commission 754510 Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2021-001214-S Generalitat de Catalunya 2021/SGR-0129 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2023-148673NB-I00
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Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Anti ferroelectrics ; Antivortex ; Depolarization fields ; Driving forces ; Electric dipole ; Ferroelectrics materials ; Nano scale ; Non-trivial ; Parallel arrangement ; Topological structure
Published in:	Nature materials, Vol. 24, Num. 9 (September 2025) , p. 1359-1363, ISSN 1476-4660

DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02245-3

Postprint 31 p, 4.3 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
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