Phase transition sequence in sodium bismuth titanate observed using high-resolution x-ray diffraction

High resolution powder x-ray diffraction patterns of Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 at selected temperatures were examined to compare structural changes with observed piezoelectric thermal depoling temperatures. The depoling temperatures do not correlate with discrete phase transition temperatures, and therefore, a structural transition is not the origin of thermal depoling. Rather, a correlation is made with an increase in volume fraction of material which does not obey the long-range Cc space group. The origin of the thermal depoling behavior may be the loss of long-range ferroelectric order by a decreasing proportion of the Cc phase or the associated percolation of disordered nano-scale platelets. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3664393]