  The emergent behaviors in antiferroelectric thin films due to a coupling
between surface electrochemistry and intrinsic polar instabilities are explored
within the framework of the modified 2-4-6 Kittel-Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire
(KLGD) thermodynamic approach. Using phenomenological parameters of the KLGD
potential for a bulk antiferroelectric (PbZrO3) and a Stephenson-Highland (SH)
approach, we study the role of surface ions with a charge density proportional
to the relative partial oxygen pressure on the dipole states and their reversal
mechanisms in the antiferroelectric thin films. The combined KLGD-SH approach
allows to delineate the boundaries of antiferroelectric, ferroelectric-like
antiferroionic and electret-like paraelectric states as a function of
temperature, oxygen pressure, surface ions formation energy and concentration,
and film thickness. This approach also allows the characterization of the polar
and antipolar orderings dependence on the voltage applied to the
antiferroelectric film, and the analysis of their static and dynamic hysteresis
loops. The applications of the antiferroelectric films covered with surface ion
layer for energy and information storage are explored.
