Electric field-induced switching of nanometer-sized twin related domains in –0.09PbTiO single crystal near a morphotropic phase boundary composition

Electric field-induced switching of nanometer-sized twin related domains were investigated in rhombohedral (R), tetragonal (T) and monoclinic (M) phases in 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.09PbTiO3 single crystal by means of scanning force microscopy in piezoresponse mode. Their domain sizes in R, T and M phases were found to be 10–100, ∼200 and 100–300 nm length, respectively. The nucleation and growth in domain switching on the (001)cub surface in R and M phases was found to be prominent in the forward direction rather than in the sideways direction with increasing ac electric field applied along 〈 001 〉 cub direction, providing the enhanced piezoelectric properties on (001)cub surface. On the other hand, in case of (111)cub surface in R phase, electric field-induced domain switching was found to be prominent in the sideways direction, similarly to normal ferroelectric domain switching.