In recent years, the demand for reliable piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials has increased dramatically, triggered by the trend toward miniaturization and the wide variety of applications. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the defect-engineered domain structure (defect ordering, domain wall arrangement, domain wall defect interaction) is essential to modify the electromechanical properties. Significant innovations in X-ray based techniques in the last decade allow the imaging of structural properties inside the bulk. One of these new techniques is dark-field X-ray microscopy (DFXRM).
With this non-destructive microscopy technique, we can map the orientation and stress of ferroelectric domains and defects on lengths scales from 100 nm to 1 mm embedded in the sample volume.
Recently, it was shown that dislocations provide high potential to modify the electromechanical properties in single crystal BaTiO₃.
In this work, we outline the potential of DFXRM to visualize domain walls and dislocations in ferroelectric model materials, paving the way for unique insights into the interactions between domain walls and defects on the local bulk scale.