Insights into the nature of “forbidden” polar order in nominally nonpolar paraelectric phases of ferroelectric materials, published in Nature Communications

Insights into the nature of “forbidden” polar order in nominally nonpolar paraelectric phases of ferroelectric materials, published in Nature Communications

Researchers from Jožef Stefan Institute (Electronic Ceramics Department), National Institute of Chemistry, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Materials Center Leoben and Tokyo Institute of Technology published a study in Nature Communications entitled “Atomic scale symmetry and polar nanoclusters in the paraelectric phase of ferroelectric materials” (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23600-3).

Using an atomic-resolution study by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy complemented by Raman spectroscopy, they directly reveal, visualize, and quantitatively describe static 2-4 nm large polar nanoclusters in the nominally nonpolar cubic phases of barium titanate based ceramics. These results have implications for understanding the atomic-scale structure of disordered materials and may help clarify ambiguities about the dynamic-versus- static nature of nano-sized clusters.