Landau theory of 180 degrees domain walls in BaTiO3 type ferroelectric particles: microcomposite materials

Abstract

The Landau theory of 180 degrees domain walls in BaTiO3 type ferroelectric particles is presented. Results of exact description of domain walls in bulk enabled us to formulate variational approach to theory of domain walls in corresponding small particles. The depolarization field effects and the space-charge layers are taken into account in the samples of the cube form. It was found that at low temperatures well known hyperbolic tangent wall profile is a good approximation for description of domain walls. Near the transition temperature it is more appropriate to speak about two walls separating ferroelectric-paraelectric-ferroelectric domains correspondingly as a result of splitting of a single ferroelectric wall in small BaTiO3 particles. Domain wall energy density, average interwall distance and change of the dielectric response of thick walls in small ferroelectric particles in microcomposites is found. Our results describe observed dependencies better than those theories which exist up to date. In temperature region near transition from the ferroelectric to paraelectric phase in micrcomposites our new quantitative results for response, for Curie-like transition temperature and other properties may be verified.