Electrocaloric effects in the lead-free Ba(Zr,Ti)O${}_3$ relaxor ferroelectric from atomistic simulations

Abstract

Atomistic effective Hamiltonian simulations are used to investigate electrocaloric (EC) effects in the lead-free Ba(Zr${}_{0.5}$Ti${}_{0.5}$)O${}_3$ (BZT) relaxor ferroelectric. We find that the EC coefficient varies non-monotonically with the field at any temperature, presenting a maximum that can be traced back to the behavior of BZT's polar nanoregions. We also introduce a simple Landau-based model that reproduces the EC behavior of BZT as a function of field and temperature, and which is directly applicable to other compounds. Finally, we confirm that, for low temperatures (i.e., in non-ergodic conditions), the usual indirect approach to measure the EC response provides an estimate that differs quantitatively from a direct evaluation of the field-induced temperature change.

9 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Giant electrocaloric effect in the thin film relaxor ferroelectric 0.9 PbMg_(1/3)Nb_(2/3)O_3 - 0.1 PbTiO_3 near room temperature
• Giant electrocaloric effect around T${}_c$
• Electrocaloric effect in BaTiO${}_3$: a first-principles-based study on the effect of misfit strain

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Giant Direct and Inverse Electrocaloric Effects in Multiferroic Thin Films
• Electrocaloric effects in multiferroics
• Origin of negative electrocaloric effect in Pnma-type antiferroelectric perovskites
• Energy storage in lead-free Ba(Zr, Ti)O${}_3$ relaxor ferroelectrics: Large densities and efficiencies and their origins
• Negative electrocaloric effect in nonpolar phases of perovskite over wide range of temperature