ZHOU Donghuan (2001-), male, Doctoral candidate. E-mail: 41902100@xs.ustb.edu.cn
Ferroelectric materials are widely used in various electronic functional materials and devices due to their excellent energy conversion and storage functions, which mainly depends on the crystal structure gene of ferroelectric materials, named as polarization configuration. Traditional phase boundary construction strategies were not flexible enough in regulating polarization configuration, and the improvement on the electrical properties of materials was also limited for the requirements of miniaturization and integration of next-generation devices.
Recently, researchers introduced the high-entropy strategy into ferroelectric materials and systematically studied the regulation mechanism of local polarization configuration. Theoretical and experimental results showed that, when retaining the traditional high-entropy effect, the high-entropy strategy could also fully utilize the comprehensive factors of atomic ferroactivity and radius for the directional design of ferroelectric functional elements (local polarization configuration and oxygen octahedron tilt), effectively improved the flexibility of external field response, and then significantly improved the related electrical properties. Materials with both high chemical disorder and high ferroelectric functional element disorder can be called "high-entropy FEs". A series of researches have been carried on the ferroelectrics via the high-entropy strategy, and varieties of high-performance functional materials were designed and prepared.
In this paper, the polarization configuration, acted as the core functional unit, is firstly introduced to achieve the diversity of physical properties in ferroelectric materials and the crucial role in regulating material's properties. Then the mechanism of improving the performance of high-entropy FEs by adjusting the polarization configuration through the high-entropy strategy is discussed; Finally, the research on controlling the polarization configuration of ferroelectrics using the high-entropy strategy to enhance their performance is summarized and categorized, which demonstrated that the high-entropy strategy could improve the performance of ferroelectric materials in a feasibility and broad prospects. Finally, four directions of high-entropy strategy for enhancing material performance, including piezoelectric performance, large electrostriction, excellent energy storage, and refrigeration with large electrocaloric effect are introduced.
Previous researches clearly showed the large potential of high-entropy strategy on the adjustment of multiple properties in FEs materials, However, the high configuration entropy only implied the substitution of a high ratio of multiple exotic atoms, and the characteristic of these atoms as well as their influence on the structure of the final compositions were not revealed clearly, even though a large number of high-entropy FEs did not exhibit outstanding performance. Therefore, designing high-entropy FE materials did not involve directly adopting the high-entropy strategy used in traditional structural materials. Instead, it entailed ensuring chemical disorder while utilizing highly adjustable chemical compositions to design functional unit disorder. To achieve functional materials with excellent performance, it is necessary to simultaneously satisfy chemical disorder, structural disorder, and functional unit disorder, it is also the core principle behind designing new high-entropy functional materials. Polarization configuration design is the core for achieving excellent physical properties in FE materials, many special polarization configurations have been reported to show unique electrical properties in many studies. The high-entropy strategy shows strong operability on polarization configuration design because of the unique properties and structure of high-entropy FEs. Furthermore, the high-entropy strategy would also benefit the grain refinement, mechanical property enhancement, and entropy stabilization effects. To elucidate the regulatory mechanism of chemical disorder on polarization disorder, researchers utilized neutron/synchrotron total scattering techniques combined with reverse Monte Carlo methods to achieve atomic-level three-dimensional structure reconstruction. They quantitatively analyzed the intrinsic mechanisms of sub-nanometer ion clusters and the formation of strong polarization fluctuation polarization configurations, it served as a bridge for understanding the relationship between chemical disorder and structural functional unit disorder. Some new technologies, such as machine learning and phase field simulation, could be used for assisting the prediction of high-performance materials among endless high-entropy compositions, and high throughput experiment method can also greatly improve efficiency for exploring new compositions with novel polarization configurations. In the future, further research on high-entropy FEs should focus on the design of more novel polarization configurations to attain better performance of this kinds of materials, thereby to facilitate the application of high-entropy FEs in a wide field.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |