Room-temperature ferroelectricity in MoTe 2 down to the atomic monolayer limit

Shuoguo Yuan, Xin Luo, Hung Lit Chan, Chengcheng Xiao, Yawei Dai, Maohai Xie, Jianhua Hao

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

388 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ferroelectrics allow for a wide range of intriguing applications. However, maintaining ferroelectricity has been hampered by intrinsic depolarization effects. Here, by combining first-principles calculations and experimental studies, we report on the discovery of robust room-temperature out-of-plane ferroelectricity which is realized in the thinnest monolayer MoTe 2 with unexploited distorted 1T (d1T) phase. The origin of the ferroelectricity in d1T-MoTe 2 results from the spontaneous symmetry breaking due to the relative atomic displacements of Mo atoms and Te atoms. Furthermore, a large ON/OFF resistance ratio is achieved in ferroelectric devices composed of MoTe 2 -based van der Waals heterostructure. Our work demonstrates that ferroelectricity can exist in two-dimensional layered material down to the atomic monolayer limit, which can result in new functionalities and achieve unexpected applications in atomic-scale electronic devices.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1775
JournalNature Communications
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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