Striking similarity of ferroelectric aging effect in tetragonal, orthorhombic and rhombohedral crystal structures

A series of Mn-doped alkaline niobate-based and lead zirconic titanate ferroelectrics that possess tetragonal, orthorhombic, and rhombohedral perovskite structures was fabricated, and the aging behavior of their hysteresis loop and electrostrain was studied. We found that after aging, all the samples showed a similar double hysteresis loop and large recoverable electrostrain behavior, regardless of their crystal structure and of their ionic species. The striking similarity of the aging effect in different ferroelectric phases suggests that there exists a common physical origin of aging in ferroelectric perovskites. Based on a symmetry-conforming short-range ordering mechanism of point defects, we provided a unified microscopic explanation for the aging effect in the tetragonal, orthorhombic, and rhombohedral ferroelectrics.