Giant tuning of ferroelectricity in single crystals by thickness engineering

Zibin Chen, Fei Li, Qianwei Huang, Fei Liu, Feifei Wang, Simon P. Ringer, Haosu Luo, Shujun Zhang, Long Qing Chen, Xiaozhou Liao

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Thickness effect and mechanical tuning behavior such as strain engineering in thin-film ferroelectrics have been extensively studied and widely used to tailor the ferroelectric properties. However, this is never the case in freestanding single crystals, and conclusions from thin films cannot be duplicated because of the differences in the nature and boundary conditions of the thin-film and freestanding single-crystal ferroelectrics. Here, using in situ biasing transmission electron microscopy, we studied the thickness-dependent domain switching behavior and predicted the trend of ferroelectricity in nanoscale materials induced by surface strain. We discovered that sample thickness plays a critical role in tailoring the domain switching behavior and ferroelectric properties of single-crystal ferroelectrics, arising from the huge surface strain and the resulting surface reconstruction. Our results provide important insights in tuning polarization/domain of single-crystal ferroelectric via sample thickness engineering.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbereabc7156
JournalScience advances
Volume6
Issue number42
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2020
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Giant tuning of ferroelectricity in single crystals by thickness engineering'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this