Coexistence of multi-scale domains in ferroelectric polycrystals with non-uniform grain-size distributions

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2401.04654
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Krzysztof Wołk; Ruben S. Dragland; E. Chavez Panduro; Leonie Richarz; Z. Yan; Edith Bourret; Kasper A. Hunnestad; Christian Tzschas...; Jan Schultheiß; Dennis Meier
• Keywords: Ferroelectric ceramics; Manganite

Engineering of ferroelectric domain structures enables direct control over the switching dynamics and is crucial for tuning functional properties ferroelectrics various applications, ranging from capacitors to future nanoelectronics. Here, we investigate formation in poly- single crystalline improper DyMnO3. We show that a non-uniform grain-size distribution polycrystals facilitates coexistence multi-scale domains, varying by up one order magnitude size. This unusual structure originates an inverted domain-size/grain-size dependence intrinsic hexagonal manganite polycrystals, expanding previous studies towards distributions. Our results demonstrate micrometer-sized grains DyMnO3 represent individual units with characteristic structure, giving new dimension engineering microstructures.