Fig. 5: Phase-field simulations of the de-poling behavior induced by DC and AC electric fields.
a Time dependence, represented by the number of simulation steps, of the polarization of the investigated piezoelectric sample exposed to DC electric fields of 40, 45, 50, and 60 kV/cm. Note that the applied fields in the phase-field simulations are significantly larger than experimental values since the nucleation of domains at crystal defects in real ferroelectric materials lowers the actual coercive field. b Simulated and experimentally determined time window to ensure de-poling using DC electric fields, defined when the polarization magnitude is <5 μC/cm2. The time difference between the two intersections of the polarization curve with the green “de-poling region” is defined as the time window. c Polarization as a function of the number of cycles of the investigated sample exposed to AC electric fields of 0.7Ec, 0.85Ec, and 1.1Ec. d The domain structures of the ACP sample and the final states of the sample subjected to different AC electric fields. The domains with identical polarization vectors have the same colors, and their polarization vectors are labeled.
