Observation of partially incoherent ⟨110⟩ boundaries between polar nanodomains in Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 single crystals

The ferroelectric domain structure of Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 single crystals was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and piezoforce microscopy (PFM). Bright-field TEM and PFM images revealed the presence of polar nanodomains, whose boundaries had a tendency to align along the < 110 >. High resolution TEM images revealed planar defects along these < 110 > boundaries, which partially relaxed the coherency of the lattice. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3488879]