Controllable semiconductor flexoelectricity by interface engineering

作者：Wang, Zhiguo; Liang, Renhong; Hu, Yongming; Li, Chunchun; Li, Fei; Ke, Shanming^*; Shu, Longlong^*

来源：Applied Physics Letters, 2022, 121(19): 192901.

DOI：10.1063/5.0097238

• SURFACE
• SRTIO3

Flexoelectricity of semiconductors usually exhibits large flexoelectric coefficients due to their significantly enhanced surface piezoelectricity caused by surface symmetry breaking. In this Letter, we reported a general paradigm to tune the semiconductor flexoelectricity through interface engineering. We selected Nb-SrTiO3 (Nb-STO) single crystals as the targets and tuned their surface piezoelectricity through depositing TiO2-terminated and SrO-terminated ultra-thin BaTiO3 (BTO) films. The results suggested that the deposition of TiO2-terminated and SrO-terminated ultra-thin BaTiO3 films to Nb-STO can induce a downward and upward out-of-plane surface polarization, respectively, thereby significantly increasing/decreasing the apparent flexoelectric coefficients of Nb-STO single crystals. Our work proves the feasibility of interface engineering in the application of flexoelectricity and also provides a possible route to achieve the large apparent flexoelectricity of semiconductor materials. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

• 单位
  西安交通大学; 桂林理工大学; 南昌大学