Electric-field-induced phase transition and electrocaloric effect in PZT near morphotropic phase boundary

Abstract We study the effect of the direction of the applied field on the phase transformations and electrocaloric (EC) effect in bulk Pb(Zr 0.52 Ti 0.48 )O 3 (PZT52/48) using a Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire (LGD) thermodynamic frame. The results show that the phase transitions and EC response are strongly anisotropic. The larger EC effect can be obtained for field applied along [111] direction compared to the [001]and [011] directions in the considered temperature range. A negative EC effect has been found at the triclinic (TR)-monoclinic (M B ) transition region for fields applied along the [011] direction, whereas only a normal EC effect exists for the other two field directions ([001] and [111]).