Nanoscale structural analysis of BiNaTiO

Yoneda, Yasuhiro   ; Noguchi, Yuji*

We investigate A-site cation ordering in the ferroelectric perovskite BiNaTiO (BNT) by synchrotron X-ray total scattering. Although BNT has a problem of a low depolarization temperature, it is promising a lead-free piezoelectric material. Since the depolarization temperature is presumed to correspond to a relaxer like gradual order-disorder phase transition, local structure analysis is necessary to understand the structure of the diorder phase. Through this approach, the elusive connection between chemical heterogeneity and structural heterogeneity is revealed. Because of the large randomness, the Ti off-center shift is averaged out beyond the unit cell and the structure becomes very close to the average structure beyond the unit cell.