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.