Chemical Design of a New Displacive-type Ferroelectric

Since the discovery of the ferroelectric perovskite-type oxide BaTiO3 in 1943, numerous materials have been surveyed as candidates for new ferroelectrics. Perovskite-type materials have played a leading role in basic...

Kittel’s Brief Comments Endorsing an Alternative View on Barium Titanate

Charles Kittel has written a masterpiece book, “Introduction to Solid State Physics” (ISSP). He mentions in the chapter on ferroelectrics in detail that barium titanate is the typical displacive-type ferroelectric compound where the Ti4+ displacement develops a dipole moment, which has made a deep impression in our mind. The author’s group, however, has arrived at an alternative viewpoint on the unit cell structure of barium titanate based on their exhaustive experimental studies. Accordingly, the author sent his relevant papers in 2006 and 2007 to Kittel. He endorsed the results frankly with reminiscence. He mentioned revising the ferroelectric chapter of ISSP according the author’s suggestions. It appears to be admissible to publish details now after Kittel has passed away. A long time misunderstanding of the phase transition in barium titanate is due to the text book knowledge of ISSP.