Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 15: Symposium SYCO of the divisions MM (leading), O, CPP, KFM and DS continued as topical session: Mechanically controlled electrical conductivity of oxides (joint session MM/CPP/O)

CPP 15.5: Talk

Monday, April 1, 2019, 17:45–18:00, H46

Impact of internal electric field on the grain boundary barrier height of ZnO — •Bai-Xiang Xu, Ziqi Zhou, and Till Frömling — Institute of Materials Science, TU Darmstadt

Polycrystalline ZnO ceramics with grain boundary potential barriers are important materials for surge arresters due to their non-linear current-voltage behavior, and have potential application in advanced devices. Different grain boundary barrier height models have been developed by considering the direct piezoelectric effect. However, the piezoelectric charge should not only result from the direct piezoelectric effect, but also from the inverse piezoelectric effect, which refers to the mechanical response of the material by the electric field. Due to the charges at the grain boundary, strong internal electric field can be expected, and it leads to strain change through the inverse piezoelectric effect. This strain further modifies the polarization and thus leads to additional piezoelectric charges at the grain boundary and in the depletion layer. Thus, this should also be taken into account self-consistently. For this purpose we employ both analytical model and finite-element numerical simulation to reveal the impact of internal electric field on the GB barrier height and its stress sensitivity. Results show that the piezoelectric charge induced by the internal field tends to adjust the grain boundary charge and lowers the barrier height. Furthermore, the barrier height becomes less sensitive to mechanical stress and applied voltage if the influence of the internal field is taken into account. The extended model with the inverse piezoelectric effect of the internal field allows to further elucidate their piezotronic response.