Polarization Evolution in Nanometer-Thick PbZrO₃ Films: Implications for Energy Storage and Pyroelectric Sensors

Polarization evolution in nanometer-thick antiferroelectric films is of great scientific and technological interest for energy storage and pyroelectric sensors. Despite the staggered dipole arrangement in bulks, the realistic situation in nanometer-thick films remains unrevealed. Here, the evolution of the dipole arrangement in PbZrO3 (PZO) films with different thicknesses is mapped via an electron microscope. The polarization in thick PZO films has two modulation modes: magnitude and angle modulation. With decreasing film thickness, the polarization vectors are consistently tuned to out-of-plane or in-plane, inducing out-of-plane and in-plane ferroelectricity. The polarization evolution in nanoscale films promotes antiferroelectric-based supercapacitor and sensor scale-down.