Effect of Ba incorporation on pressure-induced structural changes in the relaxor ferroelectric PbSc0.5Ta0.5O3

Pressure-induced structural changes in the canonical relaxor Pb0.78Ba0.22Sc0.5Ta0.5O3 were studied with both in-house and synchrotron single-crystal x-ray diffraction as well as Raman spectroscopy at pressures up to 9.8 GPa. The results reveal that the substitution of Ba for Pb in ABO(3) perovskite-type structures, i.e., the substitution of a two-valent element with an isotropic electron shell for an isovalent element with a stereochemically active lone pair, leads to a "diffuse pressure-induced phase transition," a structural transformation over a broad pressure range, without a well-defined critical pressure point. The smeared phase transition of the average structure results from the existence of local structural deformations in the vicinity of A-positioned Ba cations.