Insights into the dielectric response of ferroelectric relaxors from statistical modeling

Ferroelectric relaxors are complex materials with distinct properties. The understanding of their dielectric susceptibility, which strongly depends on both temperature and probing frequency, has been a challenge for researchers for many years. Here we report a macroscopic and phenomenological approach based on statistical modeling to investigate how the dielectric response of a relaxor depends on temperature. Employing the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution and considering temperature-dependent dipolar orientational polarizability, we propose a minimum statistical model and specific equations to understand and fit numerical and experimental dielectric responses versus temperature. We show that the proposed formula can successfully fit the dielectric response of typical relaxors, including Ba(Zr,Ti)O3,0.87Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.13PbTiO3,0.95Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.05Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3, and Bi-based compounds, which demonstrates the general applicability of this approach.