Dislocation-induced large local polarization inhomogeneity of ferroelectric materials

Abstract Dislocations in ferroelectrics play important roles in ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, and dielectricity. However, the intrinsic charge-lattice coupling mechanism in ferroelectric crystals containing dislocations is still not well understood. Here, we report a large local polarization inhomogeneity of ~100 μCcm−2 induced by a single a[001] dislocation in the PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3/SrTiO3 film/substrate heterostructure, the tensile region (~120 μCcm−2) and the compressive strain region (~21 μCcm−2) around the dislocation forms a butterfly-like area. This study reveals the dramatic effects of dislocations on local polarization and provides a strategy to manipulate the polarization magnitude and orientation of local polarization by defect engineering.