Room temperature in-plane ferroelectricity in van der Waals In2Se3

Changxi Zheng; Lei Yu; Lin Zhu; James L Collins; Dohyung Kim; Yaoding Lou; Chao Xu; Meng Li; Zheng Wei; Yupeng Zhang; Mark T Edmonds; Shiqiang Li; Jan Seidel; Ye Zhu; Jefferson Zhe Liu; Wen-Xin Tang; Michael S Fuhrer

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aar7720

Room temperature in-plane ferroelectricity in van der Waals In₂Se₃

Sci Adv. 2018 Jul 13;4(7):eaar7720. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aar7720. eCollection 2018 Jul.

Authors

Changxi Zheng^{1

2

3}, Lei Yu¹, Lin Zhu¹, James L Collins^{2

4

5}, Dohyung Kim⁶, Yaoding Lou⁷, Chao Xu⁸, Meng Li¹, Zheng Wei¹, Yupeng Zhang⁹, Mark T Edmonds^{2

4

5}, Shiqiang Li¹⁰, Jan Seidel^{6

11}, Ye Zhu⁸, Jefferson Zhe Liu⁷, Wen-Xin Tang¹, Michael S Fuhrer^{2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
² Monash Centre for Atomically Thin Materials, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
³ Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
⁴ Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
⁵ School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
⁸ Department of Applied Physics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR.
⁹ College of Electronic Science and Technology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
¹⁰ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
¹¹ ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.

Abstract

Van der Waals (vdW) assembly of layered materials is a promising paradigm for creating electronic and optoelectronic devices with novel properties. Ferroelectricity in vdW layered materials could enable nonvolatile memory and low-power electronic and optoelectronic switches, but to date, few vdW ferroelectrics have been reported, and few in-plane vdW ferroelectrics are known. We report the discovery of in-plane ferroelectricity in a widely investigated vdW layered material, β'-In₂Se₃. The in-plane ferroelectricity is strongly tied to the formation of one-dimensional superstructures aligning along one of the threefold rotational symmetric directions of the hexagonal lattice in the c plane. Surprisingly, the superstructures and ferroelectricity are stable to 200°C in both bulk and thin exfoliated layers of In₂Se₃. Because of the in-plane nature of ferroelectricity, the domains exhibit a strong linear dichroism, enabling novel polarization-dependent optical properties.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't