Enhancing piezoelectricity through polarization-strain coupling in ferroelectric superlattices

Abstract

Short period ferroelectric/ferroelectric BaTiO3 (BTO)/PbTiO3 (PTO) superlattices are studied using density functional theory. Contrary to the trends in paraelectric/ferroelectric superlattices the polarization remains nearly constant for PTO concentrations below 50%. In addition, a significant decrease in the c/a ratio below the PTO values were observed. Using a superlattice effective Hamiltonian we predict an enhancement in the d33 piezoelectric coefficient peaking at ~75% PTO concentration due to the different polarization-strain coupling in PTO and BTO layers. Further analysis reveals that these trends are bulk properties which are a consequence of the reduced $P$ brought about by the polarization saturation in the BTO layers.