Metal-ferroelectric supercrystals with periodically curved metallic layers

0545355 - FZÚ 2022 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Hadjimichae, M. - Li, Y. - Zatterin, E. - Chahine, G.A. - Conroy, M. - Moore, K. - O'Connel, E.N. - Ondrejkovič, Petr - Márton, Pavel - Hlinka, Jiří - Bangert, U. - Leake, S. - Zubko, P.
Metal-ferroelectric supercrystals with periodically curved metallic layers.
Nature Materials. Roč. 20, č. 4 (2021), s. 495-503. ISSN 1476-1122. E-ISSN 1476-4660
R&D Projects: GA ČR GX19-28594X
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : heterostructures * ferroelectrics * x-ray diffraction * phase-field simulations * domain structure
OECD category: Condensed matter physics (including formerly solid state physics, supercond.)
Impact factor: 47.656, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-00864-6

Simultaneous manipulation of multiple boundary conditions in nanoscale heterostructures offers a versatile route to stabilizing unusual structures and emergent phases. Here, we show that a stable supercrystal phase comprising a three-dimensional ordering of nanoscale domains with tailored periodicities can be engineered in PbTiO3–SrRuO3 ferroelectric–metal superlattices. A combination of laboratory and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, piezoresponse force microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy and phase-field simulations reveals a complex hierarchical domain structure that forms to minimize the elastic and electrostatic energy. Our results show that multidomain ferroelectric systems can be exploited as versatile templates to induce large curvatures in correlated materials, and present a route for engineering correlated materials with modulated structural and electronic properties that can be controlled using electric fields.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0322193