State transition and electrocaloric effect of BaZr${}_x$Ti${}_{1-x}$O${}_3$: simulation and experiment

Abstract

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) of BaZr${}_x$Ti${}_{1-x}$O${}_3$ (BZT) is closely related to the relaxor state transition of the materials. This work presents a systematic study on the ECE and the state transition of the BZT, using a combined canonical and microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations based a lattice-based on a Ginzburg-Landau-type Hamiltonian. For comparison and verification, experimental measurements have been carried on BTO and BZT ($x=0.12$ and $0.2$) samples, including the ECE at various temperatures, domain patterns by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy at room temperature, and the P-E loops at various temperatures. Results show that the dependency of BZT behavior of the Zr-concentration can be classified into three different stages. In the composition range of $0\le x\le 0.2$, ferroelectric domains are visible, but ECE peak drops with increasing Zr-concentration harshly. In the range of $0.3\le x\le 0.7$, relaxor features become prominent, and the decrease of ECE with Zr-concentration is moderate. In the high concentration range of $x\ge 0.8$, the material is almost nonpolar, and there is no ECE peak visible. Results suggest that BZT with certain low range of Zr-concentration around $x=0.12\sim 0.3$ can be a good candidate with relatively high ECE and simutaneously wide temperature application range at rather low temperature.