First-principles calculations demonstrate the evolution of the band alignment at La0.7A0.3MnO3|La1-xAx|TiO2|SrTiO3(001) heterointerfaces, where A = Ca, Sr, or Ba, as the interfacial A-site composition, La1-Ax, is varied from x = 0.5 to x = 1.0. This variation leads to a linear change of the SrTiO3 valence band offset with respect to the Fermi level of the La0.7A0.3MnO3 metal electrode and hence to a linear change of the Schottky barrier height at this interface. The effect arises due to electrostatic screening of the polar interface which alters the interfacial dipole and hence the electrostatic potential step at this interface. We find that both the La0.7A0.3MnO3 and SrTiO3 layers contribute to screening with both electronic and ionic screening being important for the change in the interface dipole. The results are in agreement with the recent experimental data.
Amorphous insulating oxides play a significant role in the contemporary electronic industry. Understanding the band alignment of heterogeneous interfaces containing amorphous structures helps to better control the carrier transport property at the interface. Classical band offset methods developed previously line-up eigenlevels with respect to an ideal bulk reference or vacuum level. However, the local disorder of amorphous structures makes the bulk reference ambiguous. Therefore, classical methods cannot be applied. In this study, we introduce a new approach based on the Linear Combination of…
The synthesis of transition metal heterostructures is currently one of the most vivid fields in the design of novel functional materials. In this paper we propose a simple scheme to predict \emph{band alignment }and \emph{charge transfer} in complex oxide interfaces. For semiconductor heterostructures band alignment rules like the well known Anderson or Schottky-Mott rule are based on comparison of the work function or electron affinity of the bulk components. This scheme breaks down for oxides due to the invalidity of a single workfunction approximation as recently shown (Phys. Rev. B 93, 235…
Charge redistribution across heterojunctions has long been utilized to induce functional response in materials systems. Here we examine how the composition of the terminating surface affects charge transfer across a heterojunction consisting of Si and the crystalline complex oxide SrTiO3. Itinerant electrons in Si migrate across the interface toward the surface of SrTiO3 due to surface depletion. The electron transfer in turn creates an electric field across the interface that modifies the interfacial dipole associated with bonding between SrTiO3 and Si, leading to a change in the band alignme…
In the framework of the modern theory of polarization, we rigorously establish the microscopic nature of the electric displacement field D. In particular, we show that the longitudinal component of D is preserved at a coherent and insulating interface. To motivate and elucidate our derivation, we use the example of LAO/STO interfaces and superlattices, where the validity of the above conservation law is not immediately obvious. Our results generalize the "locality principle" of constrained-D density functional theory to the first-principles modeling of charge-mismatched systems.
A modulation-doping approach to control the carrier density of the high-density electron gas at a prototype polar/non-polar oxide interface is presented. It is shown that the carrier density of the electron gas at a GdTiO3/SrTiO3 interface can be reduced by up to 20% from its maximum value (~ 3x10^14 cm^-2) by alloying the GdTiO3 layer with Sr. The Seebeck coefficient of the two-dimensional electron gas increases concurrently with the decrease in its carrier density. The experimental results provide insight into the origin of charge carriers at oxide interfaces exhibiting a polar discontinuity…
We demonstrate that the interfacial dipole associated with bonding across the SrTiO3/Si heterojunction can be tuned through space charge, thereby enabling the band alignment to be altered via doping. Oxygen impurities in Si act as donors that create space charge by transferring electrons across the interface into SrTiO3. The space charge induces an electric field that modifies the interfacial dipole, thereby tuning the band alignment from type-II to type-III. The transferred charge, resulting in built-in electric fields, and change in band alignment are manifested in electrical transport and h…
The discovery of conducting two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and magnetism at the interface between insulating nonmagnetic oxides, as exemplified by the polar LaAlO3 and nonpolar SrTiO3 has raised prospects for attaining interfacial functionalities absent in the component materials. Yet, the microscopic origin of such emergent phenomena remains unclear, posing obstacles to design of improved functionalities. Using first principles defect calculations, we reveal a unifying polarity-induced defect mechanism for both conductivity and magnetism at polar-nonpolar interfaces of nonmagnetic insula…
Two-dimensional charge carrier accumulation at oxide heterointerfaces presents a paradigm shift for oxide electronics. Like a capacitor, interfacial charge buildup couples to an electric field across the dielectric medium. To prevent the so-called polar catastrophe, several charge screening mechanisms emerge, including polar distortions and interfacial intermixing which reduce the sharpness of the interface. Here, we examine how atomic intermixing at oxide interfaces affect the balance between polar distortions and electric potential across the dielectric medium. We find that intermixing moves…
The recent observation of ferroelectricity in the metastable phases of binary metal oxides, such as HfO2, ZrO2, Hf0.5Zr0.5O2, and Ga2O3, has garnered a lot of attention. These metastable ferroelectric phases are typically stabilized through epitaxial growth, alloying, or defect engineering. Here, we propose hole doping plays a key role in stabilizing the polar phases in binary metal oxides. Using first-principles density-functional-theory calculations, we show that holes in these oxides mainly occupy one of the two oxygen sublattices. This hole localization, which is more pronounced in the pol…
Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are essential to many technologies including solar cells and transparent electronics. The search for high performance n- or p-type TCOs has mainly focused on materials offering transport through band carriers instead of small polarons. In this work, we break this paradigm and demonstrate using well-known physical models that, in certain circumstances, TCOs exhibiting transport by small polarons offer a better combination of transparency and conductivity than materials conducting through band transport. We link this surprising finding to the fundamentally di…
The discovery of two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in SrTiO3-based heterostructures provides new opportunities for nanoelectronics. Herein, we create a new type of oxide 2DEG by the epitaxial-strain-induced polarization at an otherwise nonpolar perovskite-type interface of CaZrO3/SrTiO3. Remarkably, this heterointerface is atomically sharp, and exhibits a high electron mobility exceeding 60,000 cm2V-1s-1 at low temperatures. The 2DEG carrier density exhibits a critical dependence on the film thickness, in good agreement with the polarization induced 2DEG scheme.
Polar discontinuities and redox reactions provide alternative paths to create two-dimensional electron liquids (2DELs) at oxide interfaces. Herein, we report high mobility 2DELs at interfaces involving SrTiO3 (STO) achieved using polar La7/8Sr1/8MnO3 (LSMO) buffer layers to manipulate both polarities and redox reactions from disordered overlayers grown at room temperature. Using resonant x-ray reflectometry experiments, we quantify redox reactions from oxide overlayers on STO as well as polarity induced electronic reconstruction at epitaxial LSMO/STO interfaces. The analysis reveals how these …
The predictions of the polar catastrophe scenario to explain the occurrence of a metallic interface in heterostructures of the solid solution(LaAlO$_3$)$_{x}$(SrTiO$_3$)$_{1-x}$ (LASTO:x) grown on (001) SrTiO$_3$ were investigated as a function of film thickness and $x$. The films are insulating for the thinnest layers, but above a critical thickness, $t_c$, the interface exhibits a constant finite conductivity which depends in a predictable manner on $x$. It is shown that $t_c$ scales with the strength of the built-in electric field of the polar material, and is immediately understandable in …
The formation of a novel spin-polarized 2D electron gas at the LaMnO$_3$ monolayer embedded in SrMnO$_3$ is predicted from the first-principles density-functional calculations. The La (d) electrons become confined in the direction normal to the interface in the potential well of the La layer, serving as a positively-charged layer of electron donors. These electrons mediate a ferromagnetic alignment of the Mn t$_{2g}$ spins near the interface via the Anderson-Hasegawa double exchange and become, in turn, spin-polarized due to the internal magnetic fields of the Mn moments.
We report a study on the interface between polar high-k materials and the Si(001)-(2X1) reconstructed surface with LaAlO3 taken as a prototype material. The construction of the interface is based on the prior growth of metal lines followed by oxidation, whose stability against oxygen coverage is studied. Electronic structure calculations within the Density Functional Theory framework help in building the interface and understanding its bonding structure. Moreover, we computed a conduction band offset of 1.9 eV, in agreement with electronic applications requirement. The results may provide a gu…
Using ab initio thermodynamics we compile a phase diagram for the surface of Fe3O4(001) as a function of temperature and oxygen pressures. A hitherto ignored polar termination with octahedral iron and oxygen forming a wave-like structure along the [110]-direction is identified as the lowest energy configuration over a broad range of oxygen gas-phase conditions. This novel geometry is confirmed in a x-ray diffraction analysis. The stabilization of the Fe3O4(001)-surface goes together with dramatic changes in the electronic and magnetic properties, e.g., a halfmetal-to-metal transition.
We employed first-principles density functional theory calculations guided by group-theoretical analysis and demonstrated the control of insulator-metal-insulator transition, polarization and two sublattice magnetization in (LaFeO$_3$)$_1$/(CaFeO$_3$)$_1$ superlattice via. multi structural mode coupling i.e., 'multimode coupling'. We have discovered a polar A-type charge disproportionation mode, Q$_{ACD}$ (analogous to the A-type antiferromagnetic ordering), and found that it couples with the trilinear coupling, $Q_{Tri}$ mode (common in $Pnma$ perovskite oxides and involves three structural m…
We use hybrid functionals and restricted self-consistent GW, state-of-the-art theoretical approaches for quasiparticle band structures, to study the electronic states of delafossite Cu(Al,In)O$_2$, the first p-type and bipolar transparent conductive oxides. We show that self-consistent GW gives remarkably wider band gaps than all the other approaches used so far. Accounting for polaronic effects in the GW scheme we recover a very nice agreement with experiments. Furthermore, the modifications with respect to the Kohn-Sham bands are strongly k-dependent, which makes questionable the common prac…
Small polarons (SPs) are known to exist in most important transition metal oxides (TMOs); however, the nature of small polaron formation remains enigmatic, and a fundamental understanding of how SPs impact the intrinsic electronic structure and optical properties of these materials is largely lacking. In this work, we employ first-principles calculations to investigate SP formation in Co$_{3}$O$_{4}$, a highly promising material for a wide range of emerging energy applications, and we resolve the conflicting findings that have been reported on the electronic structure of the system. We confirm…
We present research results on the electronic transport in heterostructures based on p-type nickel oxide (NiO) with the n-type oxide semiconductors zinc oxide (ZnO) and cadmium oxide (CdO). NiO is a desirable candidate for application in (opto-)electronic devices. However, because of its small electron affinity, heterojunctions with most n-type oxide semiconductors exhibit conduction and valence band offsets at the heterointerface in excess of 1 eV. ZnO/NiO junctions exhibit a so called type-II band alignment, making electron-hole recombination the only process by which a current can verticall…
Polar magnetic oxide HoCrWO$_6$ is synthesized and its crystal structure, magnetic structure, and thermodynamic properties are investigated. HoCrWO$_6$ forms the polar crystal structure (space group Pna2$_1$ (#33)) due to the cation ordering of W$^{6+}$ and Cr$^{3+}$. There is an antiferromagnetic transition at TN = 24.5 K along with the magnetic entropy change (~5 J.Kg.$^{-1}$K$^{-1}$ at 70 kOe). Neutron diffraction measurement indicates that both Cr and Ho sublattices are ordered with the moment of 2.32(5)$μ_B$ and 8.7(4)$μ_B$ at 2 K, respectively. While Cr forms A-type collinear antiferroma…
We have synthesized and investigated the heterointerfaces of KTaO$_3$ (KTO) and GdScO$_3$ (GSO), which are both polar complex-oxides along the pseudo-cubic [001] direction. Since their layers have the same, conflicting net charges at interfaces, i.e. KO(-1)/ScO$_2$(-1) or TaO$_2$(+1)/GdO(+1), forming the heterointerface of KTO/GSO should be forbidden due to strong Coulomb repulsion, the so-called $\textit{polarity conflict}$. However, we have discovered that atomic reconstruction occurs at the heterointerfaces between KTO thin-films and GSO substrates, which effectively alleviates the polarity…
We study the influence of polarity on the binding and diffusion of single conjugated organic molecules on the inorganic (10-10) zinc oxide surface by means of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations at room temperature and above. In particular, we consider the effects of partial fluorination of the para-sexiphenyl (p-6P) molecule with chemical modifications of one head group (p-6PF2) or both (symmetric) head and tail (p-6PF4). Quantum-mechanical and classical simulations both result in consistent and highly distinct dipole moments and densities of the fluorinated molecules, which interestingly…
Polar discontinuities and structural changes at oxide interfaces can give rise to a large variety of electronic and ionic phenomena. Related effects have been intensively studied in epitaxial systems, including ferroelectric domain walls and interfaces in superlattices. Here, we investigate the relation between polar discontinuities and the local chemistry at grain boundaries in polycrystalline ferroelectric ErMnO3. Using orientation mapping and different scanning probe microscopy techniques, we demonstrate that the polycrystalline material develops charged grain boundaries with enhanced elect…
Ferroic domain walls could play an important role in microelectronics, given their nanometric size and often distinct functional properties. Until now, devices and device concepts were mostly based on mobile domain walls in ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials. A less explored path is to make use of polar domain walls in nonpolar ferroelastic materials. Indeed, while the polar character of ferroelastic domain walls has been demonstrated, polarization control has been elusive. Here, we report evidence for the electrostatic signature of the domain-wall polarization in nonpolar calcium titan…
We report calculations indicating that amorphous RAO$_3$ oxides, with R and A trivalent cations, have approximately the same static dielectric constant as their perovskite crystal phase. The effect is due to the disorder-activated polar response of non-polar crystal modes at low frequency, which compensates a moderate but appreciable reduction of the ionic dynamical charges. The dielectric response was studied via density-functional perturbation theory. Amorphous samples were generated by molecular dynamics melt-and-quench simulations.
The temperature-dependent phase transitions in Ruddlesden-Popper oxides with perovskite bilayers have been under increased scrutiny in recent years due to the so-called hybrid improper ferroelectricity that some chemical compositions exhibit. However, little is currently understood about the hydrostatic pressure dependence of these phase transitions. Herein we present the results of a high-pressure powder synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiment and $ab~initio$ calculations on the bilayered Ruddlesden-Popper phases Ca$_{3}$Mn$_{2}$O$_{7}$ and Ca$_{3}$Ti$_{2}$O$_{7}$. In both compounds we obser…
Atomic-scale understanding of HfO2 ferroelectricity is important to help address many challenges in developing reliable and high-performance ferroelectric HfO2 (fe-HfO2) based devices. Though investigated from different angles, a factor that is real device-relevant and clearly deserves more attention has largely been overlooked by previous research, namely, the fe-HfO2/dielectric interface. Here, we investigate the electronic structures of several typical interfaces formed between ultrathin fe-HfO2 and oxide dielectrics in the sub-3-nm region. We find that interface formation introduces strong…
Topological polar vortices that are the electric analogues of magnetic objects, present great potential in applications of future nanoelectronics due to their nanometer size, anomalous dielectric response, and chirality. To enable the functionalities, it is prerequisite to manipulate the polar states and chirality by using external stimuli. Here, we probe the evolutions of polar state and chirality of polar vortices in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices under electric field by using atomically resolved in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy and phase-field simulations. We find that the adj…
We address the electronic structure of quantum wells in polar-nonpolar oxide heterojunction systems focusing on the case of non-polar BaVO$_3$ wells surrounded by polar LaTiO$_3$ barriers. Our discussion is based on a density functional description using the local spin density approximation with local correlation corrections (LSDA+U). We conclude that a variety of quite different two-dimensional electron systems can occur at interfaces between insulating materials depending on band line-ups and on the geometrical arrangement of polarity discontinuities.
Novel phenomena appear when two different oxide materials are combined together to form an interface. For example, at the interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3, two dimensional conductive states form to avoid the polar discontinuity and magnetic properties are found at such interface. In this work, we propose a new type of interface between two nonmagnetic and nonpolar oxides that could host a conductive state with magnetic properties, where it is the ferroelectric polarization discontinuity instead of the polar discontinuity that leads to the charge transfer, forming the interfacial conductive or magnet…
Three driving forces control the energy level alignment between transition-metal oxides and organic materials: the chemical interaction between the two materials, the organic electronegativity and the possible space charge layer formed in the oxide. This is illustrated in this letter by analyzing experimentally and theoretically a paradigmatic case, the TiO2(110) / TCNQ interface: due to the chemical interaction between the two materials, the organic electron affinity level is located below the Fermi energy of the n-doped TiO2. Then, one electron is transferred from the oxide to this level and…
We investigate the structural, electronic, transport, and thermoelectric properties of LaNiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3(001)$ superlattices containing either exclusively $n$- or $p$-type interfaces or coupled interfaces of opposite polarity by using density functional theory calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion term. The results show that significant octahedral tilts are induced in the SrTiO$_3$ part of the superlattice. Moreover, the La-Sr distances and Ni-O out-of-plane bond lengths at the interfaces exhibit a distinct variation by about $7\,\%$ with the sign of the electrostatic doping. In cont…
Gallium oxide epitaxial layers grown on native substrates and basal plane sapphire were characherized by X-ray phtotelectron and optical reflectance spectroscopies. The XPS electronic structure mapping was coupled to Density functional theory calculations.
A new mechanism is proposed to explain the colossal magnetoresistance and related phenomena. Moving electrons accompanied by Jahn-Teller phonon and spin-wave clouds may form composite polarons in ferromagnetic narrow-band manganites. The ground-state and finite-temperature properties of such composite polarons are studied in the present paper. By using a variational method, it is shown that the energy of the system at zero temperature decreases with the formation of composite polaron; the energy spectrum and effective mass of the composite polaron at finite temperature is found to be strongly …
Perovskite oxide heteroepitaxy receives much attention because of the possibility to com- bine the diverse functionalities of perovskite oxide building blocks. A general boundary con- dition for the epitaxy is the presence of polar discontinuities at heterointerfaces. These polar discontinuities result in reconstructions, often creating new functionalities at the interface. However, for a significant number of materials these reconstructions are unwanted as they alter the intrinsic materials properties at the interface. Therefore, a strategy to eliminate this reconstruction of the polar discon…
Variety of conducting heterointerfaces have been made between SrTiO3 substrates and thin capping layers of distinctly different oxide materials that can be classified into polar band insulators (e.g. LaAlO3), polar Mott insulators (e.g. LaTiO3), apparently non-polar band insulators (e.g. γ-Al2O3), and amorphous oxides (e.g. amorphous SrTiO3). A fundamental question to ask is if there is a common mechanism that governs interfacial conductivity in all these heterointerfaces. Here, we examined the conductivity of different kinds of heterointerfaces by annealing in oxygen and surface treatment wit…
Oxide growth with semiconductor-like accuracy has led to atomically precise thin films and interfaces that exhibit a plethora of phases and functionalities not found in the oxide bulk material. This yielded spectacular discoveries such as the conducting, magnetic or even superconducting LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interfaces separating two prototypical insulating perovskite materials. All these investigations, however, consider the static state at the interface, although studies on fast oxide interface dynamics would introduce a powerful degree of freedom to understanding the nature of the LaAlO$_3$/S…
The analysis of the structure, chemical stability, electronic and ferroelectric properties of the interfaces between Pt(001) and PbZrTiO$_3$(001) (PZT) have been performed with $ab$ $initio$ methods. We show that the chemical environment plays a critical role in determining the interfacial reconstruction and charge redistribution at the metal/oxide interfaces. We demonstrate that the difference in interfacial bonds formed at the Pt/PZT interfaces with (TiZr)O$_2$ - and PbO- termination of PZT essentially defines the effectiveness of the screening, and ease of polarisation switching in PZT-base…
Low-temperature transport and magnetization measurements for the antiferromagnets SrMnO(3) and CaMnO(3) identify an impurity band of mobile states separated by energy E from electrons bound in Coulombic potentials. Very weak electric fields are sufficient to excite bound electrons to the impurity band, increasing the mobile carrier concentration by more than three orders of magnitude. The data argue against the formation of self-trapped magnetic polarons (MPs) predicted by theory, and rather imply that bound MPs become stable only for kT<<E.
Domain-wall-to-domain interconversion in a polar conducting oxide
University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学）；Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学泽尔尼克先进材料研究所）；Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron), University of Groningen（格罗宁根认知系统与材料中心）；Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen（杜伊斯堡-埃森大学物理学院）；Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems (RC FEMS), Research Alliance Ruhr（鲁尔研究联盟未来能源材料与系统研究中心）；Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans, UMR 6283 CNRS, Le Mans Université（勒芒大学CNRS 6283分子与材料研究所）；The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)（欧洲同步辐射装置）；Theoretical Materials Physics, Q-MAT, University of Liège（列日大学Q-MAT理论物质物理）
We studied strain-induced polarization and resulting conductivity in the nonpolar/nonpolar CaZrO3/SrTiO3 (CZO/STO) heterostructure (HS) system by means of first-principles electronic structure calculations. By modeling four types of CZO/STO HS-based slab systems, i.e., TiO2/CaO and SrO/ZrO2 interface models with CaO and ZrO2 surface terminations in each model separately, we found that the lattice-mismatch-induced compressive strain leads to a strong polarization in the CZO film, and as the CZO film thickness increases, there exist an insulator-to-metal transition. The polarization direction an…
In oxide heterostructures, different materials are integrated into a single artificial crystal, resulting in a breaking of inversion-symmetry across the heterointerfaces. A notable example is the interface between polar and non-polar materials, where valence discontinuities lead to otherwise inaccessible charge and spin states. This approach paved the way to the discovery of numerous unconventional properties absent in the bulk constituents. However, control of the geometric structure of the electronic wavefunctions in correlated oxides remains an open challenge. Here, we create heterostructur…
Manipulating the orbital occupation of valence electrons via epitaxial strain in an effort to induce new functional properties requires considerations of how changes in the local bonding environment affect the band structure at the Fermi level. Using synchrotron radiation to measure the x-ray linear dichroism of epitaxially strained films of the correlated oxide CaFeO3, we demonstrate that the orbital polarization of the Fe valence electrons is opposite from conventional understanding. Although the energetic ordering of the Fe 3d orbitals is confirmed by multiplet ligand field theory analysis …
Understanding band alignment and charge transfer at complex oxide interfaces is critical to tailoring and utilizing their diverse functionality. Towards this goal, we design and experimentally validate both Ohmic- and Schottky-like charge transfers at oxide/oxide semiconductor/metal interfaces. We utilize a method for predicting band alignment and charge transfer in ABO3 perovskites, where previously established rules for simple semiconductors fail. The prototypical systems chosen are the rare class of oxide metals, SrBO3 with B=V-Ta, when interfaced with the multifaceted semiconducting oxide,…
Since the discovery of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the oxide interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3, improving carrier mobility has become an important issue for device applications. In this paper, by using an alternate polar perovskite insulator (La0.3Sr0.7)(Al0.65Ta0.35)O3 (LSAT) for reducing lattice mismatch from 3.0% to 1.0%, the low-temperature carrier mobility has been increased 30 fold to 35,000 cm2V-1s-1. Moreover, two critical thicknesses for the LSAT/SrTiO3 (001) interface are found: one at 5 unit cell for appearance of the 2DEG, the other at 12 unit cell for a peak in the carrier mob…
The interface between the polar LaAlO$_3$ and nonpolar SrTiO$_3$ layers has been shown to exhibit various electronic and magnetic phases such as two dimensional electron gas, superconductivity, magnetism and electronic phase separation. These rich phases are expected due to the strong interplay between charge, spin and orbital degree of freedom at the interface between these complex oxides, leading to the electronic reconstruction in this system. However, until now all of these new properties have been studied extensively based on the interfaces which involve a polar LaAlO$_3$ layer. To invest…
The surfaces generated by cleaving non-polar, two-dimensional oxides are often considered to be perfect or ideal. However, single particle spectroscopies on Sr2RuO4, an archetypal non-polar two dimensional oxide, show significant cleavage temperature dependence. We demonstrate that this is not a consequence of the intrinsic characteristics of the surface: lattice parameters and symmetries, step heights, atom positions, or density of states. Instead, we find a marked increase in the density of defects at the mesoscopic scale with increased cleave temperature. The potential generality of these d…
In a nanocomposite of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and BiFeO$_3$ (BFO), the remanent ferroelectric polarization is found to follow nonmonotonic magnetic field dependence at room temperature as the applied magnetic field is swept across 0-20 kOe on a pristine sample. The remanent ferroelectric polarization is determined both from direct electrical measurements on an assembly of nanoparticles and powder neutron diffraction patterns recorded under 0-20 kOe field. The nanosized ($\sim$20 nm) particles of BFO are anchored onto the graphene sheets of RGO via Fe-C bonds with concomitant rise in coval…
The discovery of ferroelectric HfO2 in thin films and more recently in bulk is an important breakthrough because of its silicon-compatibility and unexpectedly persistent polarization at low dimensions, but the origin of its ferroelectricity is still under debate. The stabilization of the metastable polar orthorhombic phase was often considered as the cumulative result of various extrinsic factors such as stress, grain boundary, and oxygen vacancies as well as phase transition kinetics during the annealing process. We propose a novel mechanism to stabilize the polar orthorhombic phase over the …
Tuning exciton emission via ferroelectric polarization at a heterogeneous interface between a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide and a perovskite oxide membrane
