Pressure-induced anomalous phase transitions and colossal enhancement of piezoelectricity in PbTiO3

An unexpected tetragonal-to-monoclinic-to-rhombohedral-to-cubic phase transition sequence induced by pressure and a morphotropic phase boundary in a pure compound has been predicted by first-principles calculations. Huge dielectric and piezoelectric coupling constants occur in the transition regions, comparable to those observed in the new complex single-crystal solid-solution piezoelectrics such as Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3, which are expected to revolutionize electromechanical applications. Our results show that morphotropic phase boundaries and giant piezoelectric effects do not require intrinsic disorder, and open the possibility of studying this effect in simple systems.