Single-crystal PbTiO3/PbZrO3 composite fibers formed by diffusion and epitaxial growth

Abstract

In this work, ferroelectric/antiferroelectric heterostructured PbTiO₃/PbZrO₃ composite fibers were fabricated via hydrothermal method. Single-crystal perovskite tetragonal PbTiO₃ (PT) nanofibers were employed as the growing core to react with PbZrO₃ (PZ) precursors under hydrothermal conditions. Structural characterization indicated that the composite fiber consisted of single-crystal PT and PZ phases. Moreover, an epitaxial growth between the PT nanofiber and PZ crystal was revealed to occur at (01)_PT/(221)_PZ. At the interface, Zr⁴⁺ ions were determined to diffuse into the nanofiber within ~20 nm and possibly partially substituted Ti⁴⁺ positions in the perovskite PT. Based on all these findings, it is proposed that single-crystal PZ crystals were possibly formed on the nanofibers via diffusion and then epitaxial growth under hydrothermal condition. These PT/PZ composite fibers may offer an opportunity to explore fascinating properties including dielectricity and ferroelectricity at the ferroelectric/antiferroelectric interface.